A recent United States District Court decision in a lawsuit brought by Hearthware against E. Mishan & Sons (Emson) serves as a good refresher course on the basic legal principles of copyright and trademark infringement in the specific context of infomercial marketing.
Hearthware sued Emson alleging that Emson’s infomercial for the Super Wave oven was too similar to Hearthware’s pre-existing infomercial for the NuWave oven – a claim of copyright infringement. Hearthware also alleged that the name of Emson’s product, Super Wave, was confusingly similar to the name of Hearthware’s preexisting product, the NuWave – a claim of trademark infringement. Both claims were rejected by the court on summary judgment.
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