DU: Soon to be wholly owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart

[Inland]

Walmart is asserting trademark rights to the smiley face. Thanks to the ubiquitous use of the smileys by DU posters, I figure DU owes Wal Mart....let's see, carry the two....$152,876,987. Roughly.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0605140121ma...
By Abigail Goldman
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published May 14, 2006


Wal-Mart not joking with smiley face lawsuit


For decades the yellow happy-face symbol has encouraged millions to smile.

The smiley face and "Have a Nice Day" helped to define the '70s. With two dots and a pencil stroke, schoolchildren have brightened handwritten messages by filling in their O's with mini-smileys. These days, nary a cheery e-mail is complete without a typographical smile.

But now a bitter legal battle over smiley could be enough to make the happy little symbol frown. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which uses a yellow happy face to try to put its shoppers in a carefree mood, is saying--with a straight face--that it has exclusive rights to the familiar image, at least among retail department stores.

[SmokingJacket]

1. "at least among retail department stores"

Phew!!

[Bluzmann57]

2. Yeah Wal-Mart owns the smiley face

Just like Fox news owns "Fair and Balanced". We all remember how well they did with that.

[Debau2005]

3. Walmart can

Bite Me!

They use the smiley face to put shoppers in a "carefree mood?" WTF? Shopping at Walmart is NOT a carefree, enjoyable experience!
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

[warrens]

4. I'm surprised they haven't done this with the flag

They have enough of the fuckers spread all through their stores. Fox stole the idea from them.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Screw Walmart. The smiley face was around LOOOOONG before THEY were!

There's no way they'll win this. In FACT, the person who created the smiley face should SUE THE PANTS OFF WALMART for using it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Foooooreeest Gump... paging Forrest Gump

say, boy... didn't you invent that thing?

[Champion Jack]

7. He died a few years ago, never trademarked it, never made a dime off it

walmart stole it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. OMG. I didn't know that! The man would have been a multi-millionaire. He

must have been a Democrat/Liberal. ;)

[Jim Lane]

14. Actually, he made $45 off it

His name was Harvey Ball. A company in Worcester, Massachusetts hired him as a free-lance artist to design a smiley face, as part of a campaign to get the employees to smile more in dealing with the pubic and with each other. From there, it kinda caught on. :)

His son said that Ball "was not a money-driven guy" and never regretted not registering the copyright.

Harvey Ball bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Ball

[WePurrsevere]

8. I'm pretty sure they'd be considered "Public Domain"... I don't think you

can trademark protect such commonly used saying/items and it wasn't their's originally anyway.

[Debau2005]

10. But for now

we can have a little fun. Everytime I get a smiley face in an email from the HR woman at work, I am going to email her the link to the article. She LOVES walmart, and uses smiley faces way to often in business email. This should really get her going!

[WePurrsevere]

11. B-) It does make them look rather petty and foolish. n/t

[Inland]

12. Walmart would have to show the face is NOW identified by the public

as something that means "wal mart", and that any other retailer using it would cause confusion in the public. Doubtful.

[AngryAmish]

13. Read the article - believe it or not WalMart is the good guy

This French dude has copyrighted the smiley all over the world and demands damages if anyone uses it. He claims he invented the smiley but there is very good evidence he did not. The guy threatened to sue Walmart and they are just fighting back. They claimed no trademark or copyright until they were threatened.

[WePurrsevere]

15. I wouldn't say that. For BOTH parties it seems to be about $$$ & it sounds

like Wal-Mart wants to own the rights to make money off of the smiley which is in public domain. Although I don't hate Wal-Marts I also know that to them a Mom & Pop novelty shop selling smiley mugs and balloons in a downtown shop could be seen as a "competitor".

http://tinyurl.com/nxfkc
<snip>
"If Wal-Mart prevails it could keep its competitors from festooning the symbol on plastic bags, name badges, balloons, handbags and just about anything else sold in stores, or the ads used to promote them."