SIVACRACY.NET

Via Siva, "news" from the BBC entitled "Carey battles porn star over name." The entire article is below in bold text, with my descontructing comments interspersed in italics:

Singer Mariah Carey has threatened legal action against porn star Mary Carey to stop her trademarking her similar-sounding stage name.

By "threatened legal action" I assume the author means, "indicated she will file a trademark opposition."

The singer believes fans could get the two performers confused if Mary Carey's trademark application is successful.

Sounds silly unless you actually know something about trademark law, in which case it is actually a fairly reasonable claim. According to the PTO and the courts, consumers are really stupid, and can't tell (e.g.) "Ben's Bread" from "Uncle Ben's" used for rice products (Uncle Ben's, Inc. v. Stubenberg Int'l, 47 U.S.P.Q.2d 1310 (T.T.A.B.1998)) or "Nutra Salt" from "Nutrasweet" (Nutrasweet Company v. K & S Foods, Inc. 4 U.S.P.Q.2d 1964 (T.T.A.B. 1987). In the dilution context, "Tempanol" was found to be similar enough to "Tylenol" to be dilutive. Anytime two marks sound similar and are used to identify similar goods or services (in this case that would be "entertainers") there are colorable grounds upon which the holder of a senior mark can oppose the registration of a junior mark.

However, the adult film actress, whose real name is Mary Cook, has said she will not be intimidated by the singer.

Grammy-winning Mariah Carey is particularly concerned by the possible confusion in the names because the actress wants to trademark the name for audio and video recordings.

Sounds to me like Mariah Carey is simply trying to prevent Mary Carey from receiving federal registration for a trademark that she asserts is substantially similar and possibly dilutive of Carey's mark. Given the state of trademark law, it's an entirely reasonable claim. Even if Mariah Carey wins, it is not clear that she would even try to make Mary Carey stop using her stage name, and even if she did, she is unlikely to succeed.

But David Beitchman, a lawyer for Mary Carey, said he believed Mariah Carey stood little chance of winning a court battle over the names.

Well, if he said that Mary Carey would surely lose, I suspect he wouldn't be her lawyer for very long.

"My first thought was, does Mariah Carey realise what her lawyer is comparing her to and are they seriously concerned?" he said.

"Do they seriously think the fans are going to be confused?"

The implication of Beitchman asking "does Mariah Carey realise what her lawyer is comparing her to" is a little disturbing. Mary Carey probably should get a new lawyer. In any event, declaring that Mariah Carey is "threatening to sue" is obviously employed here to attract attention and sympathy, and the BBC has played right along. Should we be grateful they didn't label it a "cat fight"?