Intellectual Property Archives - Lawyers and Legal Services Australia

The american Chocolate maker Hershey wants a judge to let it keep on making virtual chocolate milk. The Pennsylvania company filed a complaint in June asking a federal judge to decide whether an application it created for the iPhone and similar devices violates a copyright held by Las Vegas-based software developer Hottrix.

The two companies are battling over respective iPhone apps that both involve making virtual chocolate milk. Hottrix filed a counterclaim this this week saying Hershey had improperly used its intellectual property, costing it more than $US12 million in lost profits and damage to its brand. It said the Hershey app “dilutes the market and serves to destroy the distinctiveness of Hottrix’ copyrighted works”.

Company lawyer Jason Fisher said Hottrix’s $US3 iMilk app came first and includes plain milk and strawberry milk. Hottrix’s court filing said Hershey’s free app has been downloaded more than 4 million times. Fisher said Hottrix previously settled a similar dispute with Coors over a beer-related app on confidential terms. Hershey’s legal filing says the app it launched in October is much different, including its use of a red and white straw to “drain” milk from the phone screen.

“Unlike the Hottrix application, the Hershey’s Chocolate Milk iPhone application ‘milk’ cannot be ‘drunk’ from the iPhone by tipping the phone (which is the only mechanism for drinking the milk in the Hottrix application), but can only be ‘drunk’ by use of the virtual straw,” according to the lawsuit, filed June 2 in US Middle District Court in Harrisburg.

This type of case is becoming far more common as the legal elements and status of iPhone software is becoming clearer int he wake of several intellectual property battles which began over the property in these apps which are now becoming more and more valuable as the use of the iPhone expands around the world. This case is likely to set an interesting precedent.

It appears as if Apple is preparing for a big legal fight to get a secret product back from a company that had somehow come into possession of the product. in a very simple looking letter, Bruce Sewell, Senior Vice President and general counsel of Apple Inc has written to Brian Lamb, the editorial director of GIZMODO simply stating that the company is in possession of a device that belongs to Apple and that they desire to come and pick the device up. it is apparently a prototype for a new product that Apple plans to launch which is why the letter was not specific as to the nature of the product. it appears that the phone could be very valuable in the hands of a competitor of Apple because it would tell their competitors what Apple was planning next.

Naturally, there are a number of products which are always subject to commercial confidence in corporate trade secrets can be incredibly valuable if they relate to a particular type of technology that the corporation uses to produce its products or if the technology is patented, there are copyright issues or in some cases even the image to a trademark might be something which remains a commercial secret before its release. In this case it appears as if Apple is preparing to fight a legal case if the phone is not returned to them simply on the grounds of theft.

However, obviously if the technology is advanced enough and original that it may one day be patented by the company and protected by intellectual property law. There are serious consequences for breaching intellectual property protections over patents, trademarks and copyright. Apple has a long track record of enforcing its intellectual property rights with a great degree of vigour. Intellectual property law is generally divided into three categories, the first is patents, the second is trade marks, the third is copyright.

Category: Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property – Hershey’s Copyright battle over Virtual Milk

Intellectual Property – Apple calls in its lawyers for a big legal fight