The electronic dance music artist ‘deadmau5’ is claiming registered trade mark infringement in the US against a company selling vaping (e-cigarette) products under the brand name “deadmodz”.
Deadmau5 has argued that the names are visually and phonetically confusingly similar and that the mark was intentionally chosen to imitate the deadmau5 brand in order to take advantage of the goodwill associated with it. Whilst the deadmau5 trade mark is not registered in the US in relation to Class 34 electronic cigarettes, the trade mark infringement claim nonetheless argues that the vaping products are closely related to the goods protected by deadmau5, in that they represent a natural zone of expansion for deadmau5 goods, and would be marketed and sold to the same types of consumers trough the same channels of trade. Initial attempts to avoid litigation are reported to have failed so we will await the outcome with interest.
Further comment on the current climate of e-cigarettes and IP can be found at our blog post here.