Cases

BUS 201

Jun Okuda

2nd Case

Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Welles

Facts:

Playboy Enterprises, Inc.’s trademarks include the terms “Playboy”, “Playmate”, and “Playmate of the Year.” Terri Welles was featured as the “Playmate of the Year” in June 1981. Welles maintains a Web site titled “Terri Welles- Playmate of the Year 1981.” As meta tags, Welles’s site uses the terms “Playboy” and “Playmate.”

Issue:

PEI asked the court to order her to stop using those terms as meta tags. PEI argued that this constituted trademark infringement under the Lanham Act. Welles responded that her use of the terms is a fair use because she is the “Playmate of the Year 1981.”

Procedural History:

PEL filed a suit in a federal district court against Welles.

Law, Precedent

The case was under the Lanham Act and the trademark law.

Application of Law to Facts

The court said that in this case the mark is used only to describe the goods or services of Welles, or their geographic origin, so trademark law recognizes a fair use of Welles.

There is no obvious attempt to confuse the webusers into believing that her site is a Playboy-related website. Welles’s use of the term “Playmate of the Year 1981” is descriptive of and used fairly and in good faith only to describe herself.

Concerning the meta tags, there is no trademark infringement because Welles use the trademarks in good faith to index the content of her website. The meta tags give the webusers using a search engine a clearer indication of the content of a website. It references not only her identity as a “Playboy Playmate of the Year 1981,” but also references the legitimate editorial uses of the term.

Values and Policy:

The society may have expected from the party to show ambiguity of the right of the trademark, especially the trademark of language.

Counterarguments:

Even if Welles use the terms in good faith, she does not gain permission to use them. It is not allowed to use them without the...