Top » Law & Legal Issues

UDDERLY LUDICROUS HOLSTEIN COW COURT BATTLE

The Holstein Cowhide is a trademark of Gateway, and cannot be used on a disgruntled ex-employee's Gateway-bashing website, according to the courts. A federal judge has determined that the use of the Gateway 2000 logo and the familiar cow graphic on Jeff Blackmon's website constituted trademark infringement. While the ex-employee is entitled to his opinions, he cannot use a company's trademarks without permission, and Blackmon has agreed to stop bashing in exchange for Gateway's agreement not to pursue the trademark infringement charges. Using the infringement charges as a bargaining chip against the ex- employee, Gateway executives and their lawyers accomplished their goal of removing the website AND also avoided costly litigation. Ironically, the udderly ridiculous outcome of this entire matter is that you and I have now heard "Gateway 2000 Sucks" even though Blackmon has agreed not to say it anymore. So who really won?

Mon, 08 May 2000 16:25:30 -0700

Submitted by: Betsy Walits