Our friends at Techdirt have a great write-up about yet another bizarre little copyright story: musical group Hall & Oates is suing a health food company over their granola cereal, branded as ‘Haulin’ Oats.’ The granola, a maple-flavoured cereal, is being challenged because it is ‘obvious play upon Plaintiff’s well-known Hall & Oates mark, and was selected by defendant in an effort to trade off of the fame and notoriety associated with the artist’s and plaintiff’s well-known marks.’
I have heard of stories like this before, and it’s easy to chuckle and say, for instance, that nobody would confuse a dry-cleaner belonging to a guy named McDonald with the restaurant McDonald’s. But what the Techdirt story specifically highlights is an important detail that other reporting I have seen on this strange little story omits: apparently, this is not the first time Hall & Oates have gone after a granola company trying to play on their name, and the last time it happened, they actually entered into an agreement with the company involved which gave them a trademark and a royalty. Seen in that light, their defense of their brand in this case is a lot more straightforward and defensible.
What this illustrates, IMHO, is what you get when there are people and organizations whose revenue streams depend upon discovering a case to pursue. Something along the lines of that old saw, all the world looks yellow to the jaundiced man.”
A more reasonable interpretation of the thinking behind the name of this cereal might be that granola is a good source of energy which enables one to do work (move mass over a distance). Given this extra energy, one might haul that mass more quickly than otherwise. In the vernacular, we’d be ‘haulin’ or, if we are really fast, ‘haulin’ ass.’ This is the phrase that they are probably playing on with the more family friendly ‘haulin’ oats.’
The artists, Hall & Oats. are probably not involved with this at all. They’ve probably subscribed to a service promising to safeguard their brand. To keep that retainer or subscription going, the principals of this service need to be able to cite a body count. That’s what this is primarily about in my opinion.