June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Timex Corp., the closely held watch company based in Middlebury, Connecticut, was sued for patent infringement by a California maker of computer cables.

Monster Cable Products Inc. of Brisbane, California, claims the packaging Timex uses for children's wristwatches infringes Monster's patented design.

Timex, a 154-year-old company, infringes Monster's patent D466,405, according to the complaint filed June 11 in federal court in Marshall, Texas. That patent was issued in December 2002.

In May, Monster sued a Rhode Island-based miniature-golf franchisor in federal court in Sacramento, California, claiming Monster Mini Golf's use of the word ``monster'' infringed its trademarks.

Monster has an active IP litigation docket that also includes a patent-infringement action filed against Accell Corp. June 5, a trademark complaint against Monster Sound Inc. filed in May, a trademark case against Xtreme Accessories filed in March, and a January case against Systemax Inc. The cases were all filed in the same court in Marshall, which is often considered a venue favorable to plaintiffs.

Eric Hugh Findlay of Tyler, Texas-based Ramey & Flock represents Monster in the case against Timex and in the other Texas cases.

Monster's four-year naming-rights contract with the San Francisco 49ers football team expires at the end of this month, with the name of the stadium reverting to Candlestick Park.

The case is Monster Cable Products Inc. v. Timex Corp., 2:08-cv-00238-JTW, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).

GE Says Existing IP Laws No Bar to Fight Against Climate Change

General Electric Co., the world's biggest maker of power- generation equipment, doesn't see existing IP laws as a deterrent to technological efforts to fight climate change, the Intellectual Property Watch Web site reported yesterday.

``There is a lack of empirical research supporting the narrative that IP is a problem,'' Thaddeus Burns, GE's senior IP counsel told Intellectual Property Watch.

Patents aren't ``stopping anyone from making a wind or gas- fired turbine'' to improve energy efficiency, Carl Horton, GE's chief IP counsel said and Intellectual Property Watch reported.

He said reshaping the IP paradigm won't get new technologies to the market ``because that isn't the problem,'' according to Intellectual Property Watch.

For other patent news from June 12, click here.

Trademarks

Hutchison Can Use O2's Bubble Images in Ads, Top EU Court Says

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., the mobile-phone company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-Shing, can use bubble images similar to those in rival O2 Plc's advertisements, the European Union's highest court said.

O2, a unit of Spain's Telefonica SA, told the European Court of Justice that while Hutchison's use of the O2 name in ads was permissible, adding a distorted version of its trademarked bubble images went too far.

``O2 cannot rely on its trademark rights to prevent the use of a similar sign in a comparative advertisement for Hutchison,'' the Luxembourg-based EU court ruled yesterday.

O2, the U.K.'s biggest wireless provider, sued Hutchison over a 2004 television commercial that used competitors' names and logos to compare service to Hutchison's wireless service.

Hutchison's ad used the name O2 and moving black-and-white bubble imagery. O2 Holdings Ltd. owns trademarks in the U.K. for a static blue-and-white picture of bubbles in water.

The case is C-533/06 02 Holdings Limited & 02 (UK) Limited v Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd.

Trademark-Registration Fraudsters Target U.K. Travel Companies

Travel companies that have applied to register their trademarks in the U.K. are receiving faux invoices from companies demanding as much as 1,000 British pounds ($1,950) to register the marks, the U.K.'s TravelWeekly Web site reported yesterday.

The U.K.'s Intellectual Property Office receives more than 15 inquiries a month from travel companies targeted by the fraudulent invoices, according to TravelWeekly.

``The fraudsters must be getting some cash from it as there has been a lot more activity recently. It could be as people take their business internationally they become more vulnerable,'' Joanne Bone, head of the IP practice at the Irwin Mitchell firm of Sheffield in the U.K told TravelWeekly.

Bone said while this fraud isn't new, it has become more prevalent in the past 18 months, according to TravelWeekly.

Next Infringes Aircraft-Marking Design, Defense Ministry Says

Next Plc, the U.K.'s third-largest clothing retailer, was sued for copyright infringement over its use of a red, white and blue bull's-eye design on sheets and bedroom furnishings, the U.K.'s Telegraph Web site reported yesterday.

The Ministry of Defense sued Next in the High Court's Chancery Division, claiming the retailer infringed the design, first used on British military aircraft beginning in World War, the Telegraph reported.

Five years ago, the U.K.'s patent office rejected the ministry's attempt to register the design as a trademark, saying the ministry could have the sole right to use it on non-clothing items, according to the Telegraph.

In rejecting the trademark application, the patent office then noted that the symbol was also ``associated with a group of persons known as mods,'' the Telegraph reported.

Next sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Asada unit in May, claiming the bargain-priced retailer was knocking off its children's clothing designs.

Nintendo Sues Nyko Over Copies of Wii System Remote Controllers

Nintendo Co., maker of the Wii video-game system, sued accessory seller Nyko Technologies Inc. over what it says is a knock-off of the Nunchuk remote controller used with the popular system.

Nyko sells a wireless Kama Nunchuk designed to work with the Wii system. Nintendo contends the Nyko product copies its patented designs and infringes its trademarks for the Nunchuk name and packaging. The word ``nunchuk'' refers to a martial-arts weapon made from two sticks connected with a chain.

The Nyko product ``wholly appropriates the novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the color and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller,'' Nintendo said in the federal court complaint, filed June 10 in Seattle.

In the Wii system, a player moves the remote and a character on the television screen mimics that motion, such as an underhand throw for bowling or a swing for tennis. Nunchuks are used when the game calls for motion by both hands, for instance when punching in the boxing game in Wii Sports. It's connected to the main remote by a plug and wire.

``We have not knowingly violated anyone's intellectual property and we're still examining this,'' Nyko spokesman C.C. Swiney said yesterday in a telephone interview.

The Wii is the most-popular video-game console in the U.S., with 714,000 machines sold in April, Nintendo has said, citing results from researcher NPD Group Inc. The console is often sold out at stores, as is the new exercise game ``Wii Fit'' that first went on sale in the U.S. last month.

Closely held Nyko, based in Los Angeles, makes other accessories for use with the Wii, including a charging station for the remotes, carrying case for the console, and adapters. The accessories for the Wii and other game consoles are sold online and at retailers such as GameStop Corp. stores.

The Kama Nunchuk, which is advertised as avoiding the ``restrictive wires'' of the Nintendo Nunchuk, sells for $33.99 on Amazon.com Inc.'s Web site. Nintendo's Wii Nunchuk sells for $19.99.

Nintendo, based in Kyoto with U.S. offices in Redmond, Washington, accuses Nyko of infringing two design patents and its trademarks. The company asked the court to order Nyko to stop selling the wireless controller, and seeks cash compensation.

Nintendo's lawyers are Harry H. Schneider Jr., Susan D. Fahringer and William C. Rava of Seattle's Perkins Coie.

The case is Nintendo of America Inc. v. Nyko Technologies Inc., 08cv907, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).

For other trademark news from June 12, click here.

Copyright

Ethiopia's Anti-Piracy Plan Benefits Artists, Music Companies

Ethiopia's put its street vendors of recorded music into uniforms bearing an anti-piracy slogan as part of nationwide efforts to reduce the sale of counterfeit CDs, the AfricanPath Web site reported yesterday.

The nation's 5,000 music vendors now wear shirts bearing the message ``Buy original, not pirated. Piracy kills creativity,'' according to AfricanPath.

The nation's recording-industry association also reduced prices on recorded CDs from $15 to $2.50, to remove incentives for piracy, AfricanPath reported.

The campaign has spurred an increase in Ethiopian music companies from 50 in 2003 to 204 today, and maximum artists' pay for a recording has risen from $45,000 to $150,000, according to AfricanPath.

Vietnam's Musicians Say They're Not Being Compensated for Music

A musician's organization in Vietnam has petitioned government authorities for better protection of the Viet Nam Centre for the Protection of Music Copyrights, Vietnam News reported June 11.

The Viet Nam Centre for the Protection of Music Copyrights, a group representing 1,500 musicians, complained copyrights have been ignored for years, according to Vietnam News.

Most television studios don't compensate musicians for using their songs, according to Vietnam News.

The musicians group hopes to collect 12 billion Vietnamese dong ($722,000) in royalties for members, Vietnam News reported.

For other copyright news from June 12, click here.

IP Talk

Madill's IP's Destination Sought by Forest Products Industry

Uncertainty over the disposition of Madill Equipment Ltd.'s IP is causing concerns to forest-products companies, British Columbia's Nanaimo Daily News reported June 10.

Madill, a British Columbia maker of heavy logging equipment, closed its doors in April and is in liquidation, according to the Nanaimo Daily News.

Its IP, consisting of blueprints and drawings of replacement parts, will go on the market as part of the liquidation process, the Nanaimo Daily News reported.

Forest products companies bought up as many parts as possible when Madill ceased business and they will face uncertainty once they run out of the parts they already have, according to the Nanaimo Daily News.

Kuwait IP Rights Enforcers Find More Than 500,000 Violations

Kuwait's Criminal Investigations Department discovered 541,248 IP rights violation in the country between the beginning of 2004 and the end of April 2008, the Kuwait Times reported June 10.

Rights violations included program-stealing, fake copies of international brands, and patent and copyright infringement, according to the Kuwait Times.

Responsibility for rights enforcement is shared in Kuwait, with the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Information, the customs department and the Kuwait Society of the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights all playing a part, the Kuwait Times reported.

IP Moves

Drinker Biddle Hires Baker Hostetler's Gary J. Rinkerman

Drinker Biddle & Reath hired Gary J. Rinkerman for its Washington IP practice, the Philadelphia-based firm said in a June 9 statement.

Rinkerman previously headed the IP transactions team at Cleveland's Baker Hostetler. He also has served as a senior investigative attorney at the U.S. International Trade Commission and worked at Washington's Steptoe & Johnson and San Francisco's Pillsbury Winthrop.

He's represented clients in the computer hardware and software, Web and Internet technology, manufacturing, consumer products, audiovisual-technology, content and industrial tools and equipment industries.

Among the litigation clients Rinkerman has represented are Service Engineering Corp., Pioneer Electric Corp. and Lightning Inc., according to Bloomberg data.

He has an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

For Bloomberg articles by lawyers on intellectual property topics click here.

For daily Bloomberg legal analysis click here

To contact the reporter on this story: Victoria Slind-Flor in Oakland, California, at vslindflor@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 13, 2008 06:10 EDT