Florida-based fitness supply company Energy Armor is intentionally deceiving consumers with a trapezoidal "EA" logo similar to that used by Electronic Arts, the game publisher recently told a California court.
In a complaint filed recently, Electronic Arts said that Energy Armor advertises its health and fitness products by associating them with sports and professional athletes, "which is similar to how Electronic Arts advertises and markets its EA Sports products," the complaint says.
The main export for Energy Armor appears to be its "EA wristbands," which claim to have "negative ions" infused with harvested volcanic ash. The company claims the bands enhance nerve function and improve balance and flexibility, among other health benefits.
Much of Energy Armor's advertising focuses on athletes wearing its wristbands, complete with the allegedly infringing "EA" logo. Among other partnerships, Energy Armor offers PGA golf-branded EA wristbands, which Electronic Arts says is intentionally misleading, as it also sells PGA-branded goods.
"Energy Armor's use of the Energy Armor EA Mark is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive consumers as to an affiliation, connection, or association between Energy Armor and Electronic Arts," the company wrote it its complaint.
"Indeed, consumers are likely to believe that Electronic Arts is the source of Energy Armor's EA-branded products or has authorized or licensed Energy Armor to manufacture and sell EA-branded products."
Electronic Arts says that attempts to ask the company to discontinue the use of its logo have gone unanswered.
It is now asking the court to prevent Energy Armor from using its EA mark (or any "colorable imitations") immediately, that all material bearing the mark be delivered and destroyed, and that an order be put out to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to refuse the company's pending registration for the mark.
The company is also seeking damages including but not limited to lost profits, all profits generated by Energy Armor using the logo, damages for "corrective advertising," and the entirety of its attorneys' fees.
Okay, _this_ is an example of trademark infringement, and what trademark laws are supposed to protect against: overt resemblance in text and design of an entire company logo intended to profit off of brand recognition and good will earned by another company. Not innocently using a single common noun as the title of a single product that is _part_ of a larger trademarked title. Zenimax/Bethesda's lawyers would do well to pay attention.
Suing for trademark infringement seems fair, but why not go all the way and just sue them out of business for making fraudulent claims like "the bands enhance nerve function and improve balance and flexibility, among other health benefits"?
Wait... Does this mean that Electronic Arts didn't get any money from my EA branded magic sweat bands?
This is an outrage!
Those unscrupulous corporate fat-cats have to feed their children too.
Surely there is a mutually profitable way to settle this without destroying the lives of innocent scam artists.
Why not have Energy Armour products feature in game as wearable items.
Imagine jumping into Mass Effect 3 and dropping 200 credits on an EA 'wellness' enhancer and then equipping it to your body armour for a handy dandy -3 bonus to your Intelligence stat.
Because Infringement laws are there for a reason. Like it or Not Electronic Arts has a valid point. Its against the law, and thankfully for us, your biased and wrong opinion and ideas are not part of that said law.
Ridiculous,what was Energy Amour thinking, that they'll just walk, i would appreciate their creativity if they had struck a deal with Electronic Arts, i can't believe we are still experiencing such bogus conduct looking at how far we have come!!
Either that EA wouldn't bother with them or that they would make more money then they would end up spending on legal fees.
Companies that sell products like these are use to gaming the legal system. Energy Armor will wait until the last moment, then either tweak their logo enough to make EA happy or fold the company and start over.
Stores in the US are full of crap like this (Emergen-C and PowerBand being great examples).
Coming soon to all EA Sports games - "negative ion wrist bands infused with volanco ash" as DLC. Only $5 to boost your stats (well, in a video game it actually does something)
I think Gatorade might want to sign on with the lawsuit as well. They have every right to be sued. If you can't come up with your own logo/brand, you probably should not be in business. Leveraging the hard work people put in to create something iconic is fundamentally wrong.
I think it's entirely possible Energy Armor came up with their logo design without intentionally trying to copy anyone else. It seems rediculously easy to accidentally produce a logo that resembles someone elses because there are a TON of businesses out there and a TON of logos.
Good luck to you when you start some company and have to come up with a logo that isn't being used anywhere else.
I think trademarks are important especially when trying to defend against obvious scammers and counterfeiters like Folex watches, but I seriously doubt Energy Armor is trying to misrepresent itself or its products to consumers as made or approved by Electronic Arts.
What about the point on the left side of Energy Armor's "E"? It looks like it's there for no other reason than to imitate the bit jutting out from the left side of Electronic Arts's "E."
I don't know. Looks to me it just gives some balance to the A's lightning bolt. I could see a lot of artists being inclined to make the E slant with the slope of the left side of an A if you're making a dynamic looking logo out of the initials E and A
Trademark law states brands can prevent others from using their name if there is a possibility that consumers will be confused, as long as the names are in the same field or industry.
As they are not exactly in the same field or industry, EA Games may not have a real case... except perhaps as they argue it. We don't need scam products anyway.
Good video on how these bands "work":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atujz5lWLQ4&feature=player_embedded#!
This is an outrage!
Those unscrupulous corporate fat-cats have to feed their children too.
Surely there is a mutually profitable way to settle this without destroying the lives of innocent scam artists.
Why not have Energy Armour products feature in game as wearable items.
Imagine jumping into Mass Effect 3 and dropping 200 credits on an EA 'wellness' enhancer and then equipping it to your body armour for a handy dandy -3 bonus to your Intelligence stat.
The dvd collector set:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=modern+warfare+dvd&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa
=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1280&bih=681&tbm=isch&tbnid=Sw5
G2I2dnlEfGM:&imgrefurl=http://www.aeropause.com/2010/01/look-its-not-modern-warf
are-2/&docid=Pq79Vb4Bgd79JM&w=562&h=750&ei=IMmLTobpFoPnsQLS4eSXBA&zoom=1&iact=rc
&dur=377&page=2&tbnh=146&tbnw=108&start=24&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:24&tx=58&ty=
46
and the Video game game cover ala infinity ward:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=modern+warfare+dvd&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa
=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1280&bih=681&tbm=isch&tbnid=Owa
x8jPhjVo1TM:&imgrefurl=http://megapchardware.com/zencart/index.php%3Fmain_page%3
Dproduct_info%26cPath%3D45%26products_id%3D3022&docid=s6F1ptCLUm1F4M&w=230&h=327
&ei=IMmLTobpFoPnsQLS4eSXBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=336&vpy=174&dur=3372&hovh=261&hovw
=184&tx=108&ty=147&page=2&tbnh=146&tbnw=102&start=24&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:24
I'm no fan of EA, but jeez, this is ridiculous! Go get 'em, guys!
Companies that sell products like these are use to gaming the legal system. Energy Armor will wait until the last moment, then either tweak their logo enough to make EA happy or fold the company and start over.
Stores in the US are full of crap like this (Emergen-C and PowerBand being great examples).
Agreed Abraham!
I wasn't. I mean the one has "Energy Armor" at the bottom.
What the company produces or the claims they make regarding their products seem irrelevant.
I think if you saw Energy Armor's logo in the wild you would not be fooled...
How similar is too similar?
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Are-Southern-Miss-a
nd-Iowa-s-logos-too-similar-?urn=ncaab-wp4091
ok this one is pretty laughable... the colors arent even the same and they're completely different words
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/mar/07/its_big_guy_vs_little_guy74198/
http://allthingsd.com/20091005/apple-woolworths/
http://thefinancialbrand.com/3835/aloha-air-force-fcu-logos/
Joomla vs GlobalGiving? (no lawsuit but...)
http://www.globalgiving.com/index.html
here's a whole bunch
http://www.logodesignlove.com/similar-original-logos
I think it's entirely possible Energy Armor came up with their logo design without intentionally trying to copy anyone else. It seems rediculously easy to accidentally produce a logo that resembles someone elses because there are a TON of businesses out there and a TON of logos.
Good luck to you when you start some company and have to come up with a logo that isn't being used anywhere else.
I think trademarks are important especially when trying to defend against obvious scammers and counterfeiters like Folex watches, but I seriously doubt Energy Armor is trying to misrepresent itself or its products to consumers as made or approved by Electronic Arts.
As they are not exactly in the same field or industry, EA Games may not have a real case... except perhaps as they argue it. We don't need scam products anyway.