Pure Detroit gets sued over "Imported From Detroit" shirts

**REL** · March-16-11, 11:17 AM

Several people told them [[and publicly on their Facebook page) that they were violating trademark, and they made the shirts anyway.

From Feb 19: Ray Serafin- "I thought Chrysler trademarked the phrase "Imported From Detroit." At least that's what I read in the Freep."

From Feb 22: Summit Place Kia- "I have heard rumors...that Imported From Detroit is trademarked and only Chrylser can make these shirts. Is this true or false?"

http://www.freep.com/article/2011031...text|FRONTPAGE

http://detnews.com/article/20110316/...2%80%99-slogan

Mr. Houdini · March-16-11, 12:31 PM

I have had masters level courses in advertising law, specifuically trademarks. Ad trademarks, slogans and headlines are not copyrightable. Chrysler will lose this suit. They are bluffing and trying to scare Pure.

Logos ARE copyrightable, however. Pure cannot use the Chrysler logo. But the words Imported from Detroit cannot be copyrighted. Taglines are just not included in copyright law.

**bailey** · March-16-11, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Houdini

I have had masters level courses in advertising law, specifuically trademarks. Ad trademarks, slogans and headlines are not copyrightable. Chrysler will lose this suit. They are bluffing and trying to scare Pure.

Logos ARE copyrightable, however. Pure cannot use the Chrysler logo. But the words Imported from Detroit cannot be copyrighted. Taglines are just not included in copyright law.

So I could go out and use "we bring good things to life!" or "MMMM, I'm loving it" or "Just do it" and GE or McD's or Nike isn't going to sue me?

**rjk** · March-16-11, 12:56 PM

http://www.ivanhoffman.com/slogans.html

Ivan gives a pretty good talk on copyrighting slogans.

**iheartthed** · March-16-11, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Houdini

I have had masters level courses in advertising law, specifuically trademarks. Ad trademarks, slogans and headlines are not copyrightable. Chrysler will lose this suit. They are bluffing and trying to scare Pure.

Logos ARE copyrightable, however. Pure cannot use the Chrysler logo. But the words Imported from Detroit cannot be copyrighted. Taglines are just not included in copyright law.

Chrysler is suing for the trademark, and they can trademark a phrase that is used to identify their product [[e.g. "What can brown do for you?" == UPS). If the USPTO grants the trademark, which they haven't yet done and highly unlikely that they will, then Chrysler can sue. I'm not so sure that Chrysler will be granted the trademark because 1) Detroit is a city, 2) "Detroit" is well known euphemism meant to denote the domestic auto industry and not Chrysler specifically.

The tricky part is Chrysler's clothing line. If they filed the trademark on the grounds that it identifies their clothing brand then it's more likely to get approved.

**laphoque** · March-16-11, 01:09 PM

This seems to me to be bad press for Chrysler. If people want to be walking advertising for you you should welcome it.

**iheartthed** · March-16-11, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by laphoque

This seems to me to be bad press for Chrysler. If people want to be walking advertising for you you should welcome it.

I agree. In fact, I think the whole "Imported from Detroit" tagline is starting to become stale very quickly. What they should have done is staged some type of goodwill effort with the city and symbolically turned the phrase over to them. It would have gotten a lot of good national press...

**rjk** · March-16-11, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by laphoque

This seems to me to be bad press for Chrysler. If people want to be walking advertising for you you should welcome it.

What if someone comes up with a made in Detroit shirt with bullet holes in it or a broken down car?
With copyright laws you have to hit early and often or it gets even harder to protect.

**laphoque** · March-16-11, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by rjk

What if someone comes up with a made in Detroit shirt with bullet holes in it or a broken down car?
With copyright laws you have to hit early and often or it gets even harder to protect.

IANAL, but I believe that sort of parody would always be protected under fair use laws anyway.

**mallory** · March-17-11, 07:37 AM

So should I start printing up "Imported from the Motor City" shirts?

**Russix** · March-17-11, 07:47 AM

I should copyright "Made In China"

**belleislerunner** · March-17-11, 09:28 AM

It's a matter of semantics.

Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans or short phrases. However, slogans or phrases can be legally protected as trademarks.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.

A trademark, on the other hand, is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. These can be protected using the US Patent & Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp

I think the only question, and I'm not a lawyer, is can Chrysler sue because it has a "pending application" for a trademark and not an actual trademark on the slogan? If the application is approved - it's a moot point and Pure Detroit couldn't make the shirts sans Chrysler approval. In between approval or rejection- that's a question for the JD's among us.

Mr. Houdini · March-17-11, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by Russix

I should copyright "Made In China"

I was 'made in 'gina'.

**lizaanne** · March-17-11, 03:15 PM

Susan G Komen is suing anyone who tries to use "___for a cure". They have copyrighted HUNDREDS of combinations of this phrase to prevent anyone from cashing in on their very big pink cow. Apparently they can do this, they have stopped even small town family events trying to raise money for family members with cancer. Now THAT is sick.

**rjk** · March-17-11, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by lizaanne

Susan G Komen is suing anyone who tries to use "___for a cure". They have copyrighted HUNDREDS of combinations of this phrase to prevent anyone from cashing in on their very big pink cow. Apparently they can do this, they have stopped even small town family events trying to raise money for family members with cancer. Now THAT is sick.

Do you honestly think that not using that phrase is going to hurt their ability to raise money?

All it takes is a little creative thinking and they can come up with their own phrase.

**Ray1936** · March-17-11, 05:46 PM

All of which helps lawyers to pay for their Bentleys and Ferraris. Camel dung on them.

**wolverine** · March-17-11, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Houdini

I have had masters level courses in advertising law, specifuically trademarks. Ad trademarks, slogans and headlines are not copyrightable. Chrysler will lose this suit. They are bluffing and trying to scare Pure.

Logos ARE copyrightable, however. Pure cannot use the Chrysler logo. But the words Imported from Detroit cannot be copyrighted. Taglines are just not included in copyright law.

But they aren't suing over Copyrights, they are suing over a trademark violation. Of course you can't copyright a slogan because you trademark it instead.

You can still debate whether Chrysler will win or not on this one.

Is it trademark dilution?
Yes, because a business that sells Detroit themed products has the same phrase on them. Chrysler felt the phrase should be exclusive to them...which is why they trademarked it.

AND.....
Because they use the words "exclusive" it can be said that it confuses customers into thinking it's official Chrysler merchandise. Had they not said this, they may have gotten off the hook.