The Conkle Firm Returns to Cosmoprof Bologna

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Conkle Kremer & Engel returned to attend Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna for 2023.  Beauty’s biggest trade show was back in full swing and CK&E attorneys Mark Kremer and Amanda Washton attended to help clients, meet new clients, and see all of the latest innovations.

Amanda Washton at Cosmoprof Bologna 2023

It was easy to see why Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna is considered to be the leading worldwide event for the professional beauty sector. In 2023, over 2,984 exhibiting companies from more than 64 countries participated.  More than 250,000 visitors from 153 countries chose to attend Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna as an essential time for their business.  CK&E attorneys were based at the California Trade Alliance’s California Pavilion, at which CK&E sponsored a meeting room for advice to be given and deals to be made.  CK&E also provided food and wine to refresh the happy exhibitors.  The personal care products industry in California is so large and established that California is still the only state in the U.S. to sponsor its own pavilion, nestled among the many country pavilions (including the U.S. Pavilion).

When not helping clients in their booths or at the meeting room, CK&E attorneys enjoyed visiting the specialty Cosmoprof sections in the COSMO Perfumery & Cosmetics and the COSMO Hair, Nail, and Beauty Salon sections of the show.  They met manufacturers and distributors (large and small), beauty consultants and professionals throughout the world, to add to the firm’s growing network of beauty industry contacts.

Makeup and skincare products that focused on sustainability and inclusivity were highlighted at the show.  Owing to consumers’ increasing environmental consciousness, use of biodegradable packaging represented a clear trend.  Inclusivity was everywhere with a clear influx of gender-neutral lines as well as representation of products specifically designed for all races, ethnicities and ages.  In fact, the Cosmo Trends portion of the show presented products specifically focused on “menopause wellness.”  It is clear that the cosmetics and beauty industry is leading the way in approaching and “celebrating otherness,” which was the theme of the CosmoTrends exhibit at the show.Moroccanoil Show at Cosmoprof Bologna 2023

CK&E attorneys look forward to attending Cosmoprof and other industry events in the future, to continue to help our clients, meet future clients, and stay up to date on personal care and beauty trends and evolving business needs.  Our attorneys continue to pride themselves on keeping abreast of industry developments to help our clients, from startups to mature businesses, to grow and protect their brands and businesses in domestic and international markets.

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CK&E to Present on Emerging Legal Issues at PCPC Emerging Issues Conference

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Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys John Conkle and Kim Sim will once address current legal trends and developments in the cosmetic and personal care products industry at the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC)’s Emerging Issues Conference on November 18, 2015 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey, California.

John and Kim will present on “Emerging Legal Issues in the Cosmetic and Personal Care Products Industry.”  The topics to be discussed include recent developments involving enforcement of prohibitions on container slack fill, trends in lawsuits and agency action concerning advertising, an update on the California Air Resources Board’s ongoing Consumer and Commercial Products Survey, as well as a discussion about protecting companies from counterfeiting and cybersquatting in the digital age.

CK&E’s presentation from last year’s Emerging Issues Conference can be found here.

The annual event by the PCPC – the leading national trade association for the cosmetic and personal care products industry – is a must-attend for beauty companies across the country, with its unique focus on the many challenges that are on the horizon for the beauty industry.

This year’s agenda will also include updates from the PCPC on key issues for the industry and from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control on the California Safer Consumer Products and Workplaces regulations, as well as presentations on emerging issues in the Americas, safety standards for cosmetics, current and future challenges for Proposition 65.  In addition, Deputy Attorney General Robert Sumner is slated to speak at the conference.

CK&E is pleased to once again participate in this annual event and to offer its experience and insight into legal issues affecting the industry to the PCPC and its members.

 

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The Conkle Firm Helps MANA Evict Domain Name Cybersquatter

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What do you do when someone else has taken your trademark and used it in an Internet domain name?  Just accept it, even if they’re offering competing products and services?  Do you have to go to court and file a trademark infringement lawsuit?  Fortunately, these questions all have the same answer: No.   You don’t have to accept it, and there are faster and less expensive ways to force the cybersquatter to give up the infringing domain name.

CK&E recently demonstrated this by helping its client, the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (commonly known as MANA) defeat a cybersquatter and force the squatter to transfer the “manaonline.com” domain name to MANA.

All domains ending in a generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) – such as .com, .org or .net – are automatically subject to ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, an streamlined arbitration process referred to as UDRP.  UDRP provides an efficient method for a trademark owner to resolve its rights to a domain name that uses a substantial part of the trademark or is otherwise confusingly similar to the trademark.  Instead of going to court to sue for trademark infringement, the business owner can file a complaint online with one of several authorized arbitration providers, such as the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) or the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Through a process that is conducted entirely online, these arbitration providers are empowered to force a domain name registrar to transfer a domain to its rightful owner.  This is especially useful if the cybersquatter is in some remote offshore location and cannot be reached by regular legal process, because the domain name registrars are always available and can be directed to transfer the domain name.

To force the transfer of a domain through UDRP, the business owner must show:  (1) the domain name is confusingly similar to a trademark owned by the business;  (2) the current registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name; and  (3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

In the case in which CK&E helped MANA, another company called “Dvlpmnt Marketing” based out of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in the Caribbean, had registered the “manaonline.com” domain name – which was essentially identical to MANA’s “manaonline.org”   Dvlpmnt had used the domain name to park a webpage featuring “pay-per-click” links to other websites offering services competing with those offered by MANA.  Dvlpmnt owns tens of thousands of domains, and has been the subject of several NAF and WIPO proceedings in the past.

CK&E attorney Zachary Page initiated a Complaint with NAF on behalf of MANA, charging Dvlpmnt with cybersquatting by registering and maintaining in bad faith, and with no legitimate rights, the manaonline.com domain name that was confusingly similar to MANA, whose genuine website is found at manaonline.org.  The different gTLD extensions, .com and .org, are legally insignificant in the UDRP process – effectively, the domain names were regarded as identical.  After the UDRP hearing, the NAF Panel held:

“Considering the totality of the circumstances present here—including the similarity between the disputed domain name and Complainant’s domain name, and the content of the website to which the disputed domain name resolves—the Panel infers that Respondent was aware of Complainant when it registered the domain name and that Respondent is using the domain name in a manner intended to exploit confusion with Complainant’s website and service mark.  These inferences are indicative of bad faith.”

Manufacturers’ Agents National Association v. Domain Administrator / DVLPMNT MARKETING, INC., National Arbitration Forum Claim Number FA1404001553434

A successful UDRP claimant generally has a choice to have the domain registration cancelled or to have the domain name transferred to the claimant.  It is almost always better to have the domain name transferred, so that it cannot be taken by another cybersquatter in the future.  CK&E is proud to have helped its client, MANA, successfully force the cybersquatter to transfer the manaonline.com domain name to MANA.

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The Conkle Firm is Featured in April 2014 Beauty Industry Report

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Conkle, Kremer & Engel is proud to again be the subject of a feature interview in the industry-leading publication, Beauty Industry Report (BIR).  BIR is a monthly 24-page executive newsletter for professionals that focuses on the emerging trends affecting the beauty industry.  CK&E’s feature interview assessed the latest legal trends, based on CK&E’s decades of experience in the industry.  Topics covered included trademark and brand protection, both international and domestic, regulatory compliance issues such as California’s Proposition 65 and the Safe Cosmetics Act, issues in manufacturer-distributor relationships, and more.

The attached article includes links to topical blog posts and websites referenced in the interview.  CK&E wishes to thank BIR’s Mike Nave for taking the initiative to disseminate information about these important industry issues.  BIR proved again that working in the beauty industry without reading BIR is like working in finance without reading The Wall Street Journal.

BIR Feature Interview of CK&E

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gTLDs are Already Causing Confusion – Just Ask Wayne Knight and TMZ

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UPDATED July 15, 2015

Actor Wayne Knight (best known as Newman on Seinfeld) was forced to tweet his “proof of life” on Twitter, after a website that uses the domain name TMZ.today reported that he was killed in a traffic accident and the story went viral.  It has been reported that many users credited the story of the death of Wayne Knight because it was circulated with attribution to the website TMZ.today.  TMZ is well known as a major source of real entertainment news and celebrity gossip.  TMZ uses the domain name TMZ.com, but the domain name TMZ.today links to an entirely different website called ebuzzd.com that is actually an unrelated, deliberately fake news website – a website dedicated to hoaxes.

Wayne Knight’s concerns aside, this story presents important lessons for trademark holders and domain name registrants:  New generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) are here and must be reckoned with.  TMZ.com is not TMZ.today, but it’s a good bet that a substantial portion of the consuming public does not know that.  Will the consuming public realize that your company website “XYZ.com” is not affiliated with XYZ.Today, XYZ.News, XYZ.Info, XYZ.Web, XYZ.Blog, XYZ.Corp, XYZ.Inc, XYZ.London, XYZ.Charity or XYZ.Porn, or any of the 600+ other non-branded gTLDs that are available now and coming online within the next two years?

For a trademark holder, it can be a daunting prospect to try to police that many possible confusing domain names, but there are cost-effective brand protection strategies and solutions.  They begin with recognizing the issue, and making sure that you have taken all appropriate steps to protect your trademarks and domain names.  The most basic step is to obtain U.S. trademark registrations for your important trademarks – especially for your primary brand.  That is the key to many of the solutions that are offered at http://trademark-clearinghouse.com/, the administrative service established by ICANN to help control issuance of gTLDs.   Then, set a strategy that includes monitoring the “Sunrise Periods,” during which registered trademark holders can take the most efficient steps to protect against spurious registrations of confusingly similar domain names with the new gTLDs.

The best and most cost-effective methods of protection against gTLD infringers and domain name cybersquatters will be discussed in future blog posts.  Available methods include preemptive registration, blocking and various forms of policing.  Conkle, Kremer & Engel routinely guides its clients to protect their valuable intellectual property and domain names, including taking proactive steps to address the new threats to trademarks posed by gTLDs.  Contact us if you have questions and need assistance.


 

UPDATE July 15, 2015:  Another example of misuse of gTLD domain extensions happened again and demonstrates that real money can change hands when gTLD domain name extensions are abused.  Twitter stock jumped on July 14, 2015 after what appeared to be the Bloomberg Business website posted a news article reporting that Twitter had received a $31 billion buyout offer.  The story was fake, but it passed for real news by being posted on a website designed as a counterfeit of the Bloomberg Business website and using a new gTLD:  www.bloomberg.market.  The real Bloomberg website is actually found at www.bloomberg.com.  To help make a convincing appearance, the www.bloomberg.market website included links back to the real www.bloomberg.com website.  Enough readers were fooled that Twitter stock price spiked after news of the purported buyout offer was picked up in legitimate media.  gTLD confusion may continue to be a problem for trademark holders until they take affirmative steps to limit the possibilities of confusion and abuse.

 

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