ABU has engaged a lawsuit of Tykables over their space themed Diaper

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Paddedbossman

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ABU is going after Tykables because their Space diaper has name Space as ABU has the term Space trademarked.

IMO this is a bit flimsly Space is a bit ambiguous and the Tykables design is nothing like ABU.
 
I more than likely would back Abu universe then

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So are any of the North American based abdl diaper companies not trying to sue each other?

Surely this isn't a good thing, as there just wasting product development cash on lawyers?
 
Eh, still think this one's doomed to failure, too. Space, as a description or referent to everything outside earth's atmosphere, is pretty generic and common. That would sort of be like trying to trademark ocean as while referring to large bodies of salty water.
 
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NeverKnow said:
But ABU isn't trying to trademark "Space" in relation to adult diapers; they've already done it years ago. What Tykables is trying to do would be akin to a company trying to market a new computer, called the "Apple Core". Doesn't matter that apples as a kind of fruit are generic and common; Apple owns the trademark for "apple" in relation to computers.

Apple Computer actually got sued by the Beetles, because they at the time owned Apple Recording Studios. They came to an agreement that Apple Computer would not make hardware that specifically was designed for audio recording. Then some years later the Apple Lisa (iirc) was released with the Ensoniq chip, specifically for playing multivoice music, and they got sued again. Not sure how that turned out. But later they released the iPod and I didn't hear anything over that so I assume they settled or something on the Ensoniq thing.

So yes a generic word in combination with a market can be a violation of trademark. But people can (and do) sue for anything, it's more a matter of whether or not you have a chance of winning that matters.

"space" may be a bit too vague. Does that cover "outer space"? How about "Space Ships"? Can Ford trademark "fast"? Or can Mars trademark "sweet"? They'll start asking questions about "brand recognition". Does the average consumer in the market think of your specific product when they hear the trademarked phrase? That's the center of trademark right there, brand recognition. You aren't allowed to hitch a ride on that, because you are creating confusion and tricking some customer into buying your product when they thought they were buying someone else's.

If that's the bar you want to use, "fast" in cars or "sweet" in candy doesn't immediately identify a brand. But "space" in diapers... I think that one is going to be recognized by enough people as an ABU brand.

It's also fair to point out this isn't their first rodeo. Tykables used to be Snuggies, which was found to be too similar to Huggies, and that was legally settled and forced them to change their name to Tykables. That will also weigh against them. I don' think they will be able to win this.
 
I was surprised by "Space Cadet," honestly. I mean, I know these jokes are getting old, but...with its history of rather unappealing product names, I'd have expected Tykables to choose something like Asstronaut. (It's space-themed, it covers your ass, ...get it?)

It'll be interesting to see what happens here. We know that the owners of these two companies have a rather tense relationship. We also know that Tykables started out as Snuggies, and was forced to relinquish that name. Perhaps this is history numbly repeating itself.
 
I wonder if this qualifies as "counterfeit"? Even if it's the same product, by the same manufacturer, but distributed from the manufacturer without the approval of the IP owner?
 
'double hose heaven' is mine! 😎
 
At first I was pretty upset about this. My first thought was that "Space" as a concept is just insanity to try and trademark and that this was Rearz all over again. But I got into a thread on it over on Reddit and read ABU's position including replies made personally to me, and I have to conclude that they have a point here. The name of their product is the "Space diaper", by using that name they're infringing on ABU's rights to it. Not to mention they're willing to drop the whole thing if Tykables would rename their product to some other space related name, i.e. the suit is on the use of the "Space diaper" name that ABU has a copyright on, not the concept of space diapers in a general sense. "Galactic Cadet" or "Cub Cadet", etc. would have been just fine.
 
It amazes me because in the very small and limited AB world we live in the first thing you go to is a lawsuit because you believe that there is a copyright infringement on the general idea of "Space" being a design? This just hurts the community as a whole. The designs are greater than 20% different and on a completely different platform of diaper. It's my opinion that the lawsuit is merit less. I understand its a competitive business and ABU may feel like Tykables is playing their proverbial sandbox but seriously? Give the people some selection and let it go. If your product is truly superior than the sales will speak for themselves. A little healthy competition only helps business.

Even if it is just a "name" related suit "Space" is a widely used name for the area outside of this planet. Graphics and designs that are commonly associated with space are stars, moons, astronauts, etc. This would be like NASA saying nobody can use the moon on any space related object because they did it first. So if I have fundiapers.com print me a space diaper am I the next one to be sued?

People need to start focusing on our community and not trying to damage it.

***End of rant***
 
It all seems a bit rich that a company that made its start by making a clone of an old pampers design can accuse anyone of infringing copyright.
Also there are a limited amount of names you could use for the theme with space and star already being used.
 
HappyNappin said:
It all seems a bit rich that a company that made its start by making a clone of an old pampers design can accuse anyone of infringing copyright.
Also there are a limited amount of names you could use for the theme with space and star already being used.

I mean yeah, and that's why I was upset at first, but when you look at their actual case and Tykables response, or lack thereof as it were, ABU's side of things starts to become clear. Just like it seems silly for a fruit like "apple" to be trademarked, if someone came out with the "Apple Orchard Computer", Apple would naturally be concerned here that someone would be profiting off of their brand.
 
This could end up like the automotive industry and how every possible name for a given technology, feature or model has pretty much been used up, leading to silly acronyms and cars having different names in different markets because competitors had used a similar name 50 years ago as a trim level, or ridiculous cases like ford vs ferrari, where ferrari couldn't use f150 as the chassis code for its 50th f1 car design because of fords f-150 lorry.

Personally I think tykables should just rename it Cosmos and send me a pair of shortalls or cargo shorts as payment.

Hint hint.
 
I love ABU products and their peeps are truly excellent to deal with, Casey is to be commended for every stride he takes making the nappies better, more diverse, available but damn this is a good wake up call to remind me they are a business.
 
This is just like the stupid lawsuit between San Diego comic con and salt lake comic con over the term comic con just more stupidity to foul up the courts
 
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