Thanks to our dear friend Amanda Bell of our elite affiliate Twilight Examiner for the tip!
via @TwiExaminer
Long-time readers of Twilight news willl know that the series has been the source of a lot of litigation over the past few years. Most of the time, frankly, Twilight
film studio Summit Entertainment seems to take the plaintiff's seat in
these cases, making a stand for its property rights over certain
trademarks, copyrights, financial dues, and the like.
To refresh, most recently, we've seen the studio sue Blockbuster for moneys owed to them from sales of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse DVDs (Sidenote: an interim but important decision - basically whether Blockbuster can avoid the liquidation being sought by the studio - on this issue is actually being made today, per The Hollywood Reporter). That is a fairly cut-and-dry issue, it seems. In other instances, though, things have been less straight-forward. Like with the studio's rights to demand an injunction of B.B. Dakota jacket sales because the company has boasted the coat's use in the first film, for example.
Anyway, the point is that things can be sticky when it comes to this series and the various privileges associated with it. So, one company, Bath & Body Works, is making a pre-emptive move to avoid this kind of entanglement.
According to Reuters Canada, Bath & Body Works has begun legal proceedings to determine, once and for all, whether their product line infringes any of Summit's rights.
Per that report, the company has a line of fragrant "toiletry" items called "Twilight Woods," and they are seeking a declaratory judgment to the effect that this is unrelated to and thusly uninfringing upon the Twilight series.
What's interesting here is that one might be able to ascertain a similarity between the logo used on the stickers for these products and the, say, movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Though, Reuters quotes a B&BW representative to state that their use of the word "Twilight" in the product line does not stem from the Saga itself but rather a more literal meaning (Merriam Webster defines: "the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and its dust"). One could argue that the imagery from the film promos and this line are both descendant of that definition, in theory . . . but then issues associated with the "look and feel" concept might arise, and this can get very complicated, very quickly. As always, this is just speculation, and it'll be up to the courts to frame the factual and legal issues for this matter.
At any rate, it's interesting to see Bath & Body Works make such a move. On the one hand, they could immunize themselves from suit over the matter. On the other hand, if the court doesn't decide their way, they could open themselves up to a lawsuit when they might not have even been on the studio's radar before (with a declaratory judgment - a.k.a. dealmaker - in hand against them, to boot). Time will tell . . .
via @TwiExaminer
To refresh, most recently, we've seen the studio sue Blockbuster for moneys owed to them from sales of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse DVDs (Sidenote: an interim but important decision - basically whether Blockbuster can avoid the liquidation being sought by the studio - on this issue is actually being made today, per The Hollywood Reporter). That is a fairly cut-and-dry issue, it seems. In other instances, though, things have been less straight-forward. Like with the studio's rights to demand an injunction of B.B. Dakota jacket sales because the company has boasted the coat's use in the first film, for example.
Anyway, the point is that things can be sticky when it comes to this series and the various privileges associated with it. So, one company, Bath & Body Works, is making a pre-emptive move to avoid this kind of entanglement.
According to Reuters Canada, Bath & Body Works has begun legal proceedings to determine, once and for all, whether their product line infringes any of Summit's rights.
Per that report, the company has a line of fragrant "toiletry" items called "Twilight Woods," and they are seeking a declaratory judgment to the effect that this is unrelated to and thusly uninfringing upon the Twilight series.
What's interesting here is that one might be able to ascertain a similarity between the logo used on the stickers for these products and the, say, movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Though, Reuters quotes a B&BW representative to state that their use of the word "Twilight" in the product line does not stem from the Saga itself but rather a more literal meaning (Merriam Webster defines: "the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and its dust"). One could argue that the imagery from the film promos and this line are both descendant of that definition, in theory . . . but then issues associated with the "look and feel" concept might arise, and this can get very complicated, very quickly. As always, this is just speculation, and it'll be up to the courts to frame the factual and legal issues for this matter.
At any rate, it's interesting to see Bath & Body Works make such a move. On the one hand, they could immunize themselves from suit over the matter. On the other hand, if the court doesn't decide their way, they could open themselves up to a lawsuit when they might not have even been on the studio's radar before (with a declaratory judgment - a.k.a. dealmaker - in hand against them, to boot). Time will tell . . .
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