Bears and Volcanoes and Trademarks, Oh My!

So it was recently reported in the news that Yellowstone National Park was going to esplode (sp) in a giant fiery caldera volcano.1 Sounds exciting, and very similar to two movies from the late 1990s.2 But I digress.

The actually interesting part of the story was about the website that reported said alarmist eruption used (rather unapologetically) the U.S. Geological Survey's logo (apparently in addition other trademark-ish type things). The site was since taken down, but either way the main concern by the Yellowstone spokesperson was that people would be confused about the source of the information.3 As McCarthy tells us, trademarks are about source and origin designation,4 so the USGS's concern is understandable, wouldn't want people thinking the U.S. government was flying off the handle with any inaccurate information.

The fact that the USGS technically is not selling any "product" per se would be a false assumption, as the news can be interpreted as a product5 (albeit freely accessible, usually at low cost). I think the disingenuous website poster probably made a smart move taking the site and the USGS's concerns well founded.

The funny thing is, the trademark issue wouldn't even blip on your radar, it's buried nicely in the article.

Happy Monday.

1: See "Caldera," Wikipedia.org, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera
2: See "Volcano," 20th Century Fox Entertainment, 1997; "Dante's Peak," Universal Pictures, 1997
3: See "Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone Volcano," Mead Gruver, Associate Press, available at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090110/ap_on_sc/yellowstone_volcano_hysteria.
4: Thomas McCarthy, McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 3:4 (4th ed. 2008) (defining trademarks as a design which reflects the origin of the good or service and distinguish it from others); see also Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 900 (9th Cir. 2002) (“[Trademarks are] the owner’s way of preventing others from duping consumers into buying a product they mistakenly believe is sponsored by the trademark owner.”).
5: See I.N.S. v. A.P., 248 U.S. 215 (1918) (holding that the dual nature of news reporting means there is a "product" to be had, albeit with restrictions).

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