…multistory food pavilion in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor by the name of Sony’s. IIRC, owned and operated by a petite Filipino lady. Her name was Sony. The Sony corporation sued her and won, and she could no longer use her own name for her own very small, single location business.

A doggy daycare where we live briefly went by the name Starbarks. I thought it was very clever. Same story - Starbucks sued and won.

Corporate wusses! Did the gigantic Sony corporation really feel threatened by a little food vending business, or gigantic Starbucks by a single doggy daycare location? If either of those small businesses had been offering the same products as the corporations, maybe I could see it, but c’mon, man.

... are attacking the low-hanging fruit, as it were, to justify their over-priced existence. Such petty malice does nothing to enhance their already rancid reputations. They could have gained tons of good will by chuckling along with the jokes, and maybe even featuring Dogue in some of their photo shoots. Instead, they went full curmudgeon, and sullied their reps even further. Not very smart.
Going after Sony's just shows what lowlife bullies they really are.

My understanding of the trademark law, as an owner of several trademarks, is that once the owner becomes aware of someone using the trademark, it is my responsibility to protect the trademark. If I do not defend the trademark against everybody, I can’t defend the trademark against anybody. My obligations as the owner is to 1) use the mark (and be able to show documented examples of continual use) and 2) defend it.

This is why you see all these mom’n’pop operations getting letters about infringement. It’s also why you see major corporations like P&G or Coke or L’Oreal suing their distributors like Costco or Walmart over store brand packaging. If Coke lets Walmart of Safeway put their store brand cola into a specifically color red can with script writing and a capital “C” for cola that waves the length of the can under the work cola…they’re gonna get a letter and maybe a lawsuit if they ignore the letter. Seems weird to sue your biggest customer but it happens all the time for the same reason Starbarks or Sony’s get a letter. The law makes not accommodation for little guys infringing.

And if Coke doesn’t defend it against Walmart today…next week, when Pepsi puts their color in a package like that and Coke DOES sue Pepsi…Pepsi’s defense is ‘but they let Walmart do it”….and that’s how former trademarks like refrigerator, aspirin, escalator, and AppStore became generic. It’s also why you hear the phrases “Kleenex BRAND tissues” or “Xerox BRAND copies”…these guys are trying make sure their trademarks don’t become generic through use as a general noun or very.

IANAL but have been schooled on this one (a lot) about my responsibilities as an owner.

Nobody with two live brain cells will confuse it with the retailer.