DeadMau5 versus DeadModz, the story of an electronic dance musician taking a vape company to court over trademark infringement is a cautionary tale to all in the vape industry who would encroach on others ideas for profit. According to Joel Zimmerman (DeadMau5), West Coast Vape Supply is intentionally making use of his trade marked material and as such has filed suit against the company.
Come Up With Your Own Ideas
It is 2016, the vape industry has been warned by companies, politicians, industry advocates and even vapers themselves that we need to create our own idea’s. Jumping on a recognized label is asking for one thing and one thing only, you are poking at the bear and asking for a lawsuit. It is plain and simple, if you have “Tony The Tiger” on your label of Frosted Flakes E-Liquid, someone is going to come knocking with a pile of paperwork and a date to see you in court.
This case is the latest to hit the headlines and will definitely not be the last, because we have a bunch of money hungry “entrepreneurs” who have the business sense and artistic capabilities of second graders creating lemonade stands. I do not actually include West Coast Vape Supply in this equation and will explain why in just one second.
If you are a vape company who is happily selling products on the backs of other people’s branding, in my humble opinion, you deserve the loss of every second spent defending your actions until such a time as your company goes belly up. You’re giving the industry a bad name and the sooner you are gone, the sooner the rest of us can get back to acting like grown ups.
Back To DeadModz
image exhibited in lawsuit
As I said in the last segment, I am not going to tar West Coast with this brush. In the lawsuit Mr. Zimmerman is actually attempting to claim the name Deadmodz as his own, stating that the company has encroached on goods and services that are likely to be within his natural expansion of marketing. Unless the EDM “star” plans to become a manufacturer of RDA’s and e-liquid in the near future, I see this remark as problematic. He also states that the name could be mistaken for his own by his fans and that they may believe that this company is associated with his own: The musician basically said that his fans can’t read, because regardless of the similarity in font and the fact that they both say dead at the start, I think even the second grade lemonade sellers can spot the difference.
New DeadModz logo
The saddest part of this whole ordeal is the fact that when first approached about the similarities, West Coast changed the font and logo design to make sure that the illiterate crowd couldn’t be confused. After taking the time to look at the original logo’s, I can remember a few times in my younger years when coming out of a club, late on a Saturday night, I may have confused the 2, but not when I was in a sober state of mind.
DeadMau5 And Trademark Infringement
This however, is not Mr. Zimmerman’s first dalliance with the trademark courts. He spent several years defending his own logo, the very center of his fan bases ideal. In case you aren’t aware, this musician decided that the best way to define himself to the world was as Mickey Mouse a cartoon representation of a dead mouse, which closely resembles a well-known Disney character. After many years of legal wrangling, he has convinced the owners of said property that his image differs from theirs enough to not be considered a trademark infringement.
If he can convince The Walt Disney corporation that by changing the size of the ears on a mouse’s head he isn’t trying to steal from them, maybe he should be able to understand that he doesn’t own letters of the alphabet, maybe he had a case before they changed the font.
If the plaintiff does wish to begin creating e-liquids and vape related merchandise, he will probably have more luck using his own recognized brand name, the one his fans know and love, and until such time he should concentrate more on his music career.
As always, enjoy your vaporizer and vape safe!
