to put it in layman terms. This lawsuit is akin to Toei animation is suing Walmart for infringing their One Piece trademark because Walmart sells one piece bikinis (we encounter that a lot every fucking day and we have to tell Toei to stop being retarded). trademarks are very very very very very very specific things, if it is not filed under that goods and services it is moot.
the ISOM (school of ministry) thinks they own the word ISOM in terms of comic books, but under their filing, they have no goods and services related to it which the Rippaverse's trademark goods and services which are comic books (as specified by the trademark filing).
it reminds of me of the case of Mad Dog. they own the word spin/spinning, in the realm of sports/sports equipment and accessories/sports attire and stuff, but not outside of it. but they still sued a dress maker who used the word spin on a tuxedo. they lost because the spin word Mad Dog owns only affects sports things.
It reminds me of the ongoing 2 year lawsuit over the Comicsgate trademark. Since you weren't around for that lil' homie, lemme bring you up to speed. One day a few years back, a guy that made cuckold and pegging videos starring himself decided to copyright the trademark "Comicsgate". He was mad about the videos being leaked out you see. There were a few videos of him licking shit off of a dildo that was shoved up his ass too, but I digress. The point is, Preston Poulter felt it was time to claim ownership over Comicsgate™. To further own the gaters he would lend the CG trademark to various things like simulated child erotica, and Jon Del Arroz comics, cementing its use in commerce, and intended on DMCA striking and litigating anyone who used the term'"Comicsgate' without his permission. During the years leading up to this,
@FROG just coasted through the years assuming his "Comicsgate Live" livestreams constituted common law ownership of the Comicsgate trademark. It wasn't.
I'll spare you the whole convoluted story, but it was established that a pothead named "Dark Gift" put out
something from his musty dog-smelling basement using a Comicsgate™ lent to him by a mexican thief named Cridious, who never made anything himself with the trademark but instead used the money to pay bills and back other books for clout on the internet. Cridious, out of loyalty to the movement he defrauded, turned over the CG™ to Frog, thus establishing prior use before Preston's
Robotoad: Rekt Manlet.
So where does that leave the CG trademark now that use of Comicsgate has been firmly established in the CG camp once and for all?
The USPTO has ordered another 2 years of court proceedings so that ownership between
@FROG and the cuckold porn actor. The trial for the trademark may drag on long past the end of Comicsgate itself as an existing thing.
It's one thing to argue Eric July is in the moral and legal right in this case. It is beyond naivete however to think that the case of
ISOM vs July is going to dissolve into the ether just because a google search reveals other companies have copyrighted and trademarked the term ISOM for their respective uses. As if no party involved in this has thought of doing that or considered that before deciding to go forward with the lawsuit. Rippa successfully winning requires him filing claims establishing the unique and distinctive nature of his '
Isom' product vs the ISOM school, then filing counterarguments to their arguments against the claims, counterarguments against their counterclaims, counterarguments against their claims to ownership, so on, and then there's the appeal process which is more of the same thing. All of this is very expensive, completely subject to the opaque and arbitary whim of the USPTO and, as you say, there's no guarantee about any of this going his way. If Rippa's 'rockstar lawyers' are like Rippa's 'rockstar art team' on
Isom, I'd be concerned. Even if he wins, this shit has kind of fucked him over. And if he doesn't win, then there's the issue of damages ISOM is entitled to on account of the brand confusion, which brings up the matter of his current youtube videos impugning their Christianity and the Rippa fans review bombing every mention of ISOM (the school) they can find.
