Court Finds That Fictional Movie Software Did Not Infringe Actual Software Trademark Rights

摘要

In Fortres Grand Corporation v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., [No. 13-2337 (7th Cir. 08/14/2014)], Fortres Grand developed and sold a security software program known as "Clean Slate." It also held a federally registered trademark for use of that name to identify the source of "[c]omputer software used to protect public access computers by scouring the computer drive back to its original configuration upon reboot." [Trademark Reg. No. 2,514,853.] As the description in the trademark registrations suggested, the program wiped away any user changes to a shared computer (wiping the slate clean, so to spe.ak). It is the kind of program that might be used at schools, libraries, hotels, etc., to keep public computers functioning properly and free of private data. Because a desktop management program is security software, its single most important characteristic is its trustworthiness. Fortres Grand had been able to establish its Clean Slate software in the marketplace as a trustworthy program.