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After reading the articles pertaining the little restaurant in Fredrick MD, I was quite displeased. Jimmy has all the money in the world and he wants to go and attack little restaurants and try to hurt them. I know it might not be Jimmy and it is probably his lawyers but it really upsets me when the big men push around the little guys. The Jimmy I know is laid back and cares for the little men. He is willing to share is carribean soul to others. I am a faithful follower of Jimmy and I love his music but I have lowered my views towards Jimmy just a little bit.

You'd have to post some links to fill us in. Haven't heard anything about this.

If he owns a trademark on a phrase such as "cheeseburger in paradise" he is perfectly entitled to do this. The purpose of trademarking (boiled down) is to prevent someone else from making money off of your product/idea.

(I believe what's being referred to here is a restaurant owner using a Buffett-y phrase for the name of his restaurant.)

first, remember it's not Jimmy personally it's those scumbag lawyers with nothing better to do. Just like everything else about Jimmy in his life right now he is removed from the reality of things.

I believe the resturant in question named an outdoor bar area, Margaritaville because of some bar specialty margaritas they make. I think the owner renamed the bar without incident. My take on this is, that Jimmy may not care a hill of beans whether this guy named it Margaritaville, but if you allow anyone to violate trademark rights, you open the floodgate for everyone to do it. So If Tommy Bahama starts marketing a line of casual wear featuring Margaritaville, there is presidence and the litigation becomes nasty (and costly). I feel bad for the bar owner, but this is a different world and business is what it is. My personal opinion is --- What do you have when you have 100 lawyers at the bottom of the Carribean? A START!

I really do not think Jimmy is TRYING to hurt the little guy. His lawyers are protecting a trademark. Its pointless to have a trademark and not protect it. Jimmy has also said in the past about these places, that he does not want the customer being fooled that they are at one of his places. A lot rides on these names, if people think these places are connected to Jimmy and they get treated badly, get food poisoning, or anything along those lines, it makes Jimmy look badly.

I'm not totally up on this (Lee, AF, where are you??), but if you have a trademark, and you don't "vigorously defend" it, you could lose it. I might not be right on the money, here, but I think I'm in the ballpark.

So, while Jimmy may not WANT to hurt the little guy, he has to defend "Margaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," etc, or risk losing them.

Yea, I am tired of him hurting the little man. I spend my $100 per concert for several concerts a year, buy his CD's, Books, Tshirts and other assorted trademarked items WHERE IS MY FREE CONCERT IN MY BACKYARD ???

I've got no problem with him going after this company. He owns all rights to that name and that company shouldn't be allowed to use it. If I were to open a bar I couldn't call it McDonalds. Jimmy has all the money he will ever need, but with that name you expect a certain level of excitement and/or treatment and you may not receive that at this place. Just my perspective.

SchoolGirlHeart wrote:I'm not totally up on this (Lee, AF, where are you??), but if you have a trademark, and you don't "vigorously defend" it, you could lose it. I might not be right on the money, here, but I think I'm in the ballpark.

So, while Jimmy may not WANT to hurt the little guy, he has to defend "Margaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," etc, or risk losing them.

Yes, I believe this is correct. A trademark is sort of a nebulous thing. Part of showing that something is actually a trademark is that you actively try to prevent someone from ripping it off. So although Jimmy has to go after little guys in Maryland, it is to prevent big corporate bad guys from infringing on his rights later on. I'm sure you would agree that if McDonald's were offering a "Cheeseburger in Paradise", Jimmy would be right to try to get a piece of that action, or prevent McD's from doing that. But if Jimmy (or rather, his lawyers) is not out there defending his trademark, McD's could conceivably offer a CIP, and not give Jimmy a dime. McD's would say, "This isn't really Jimmy's trademark. Look at the hundreds of little 'CIP' establishments across the country with with Jimmy is not affiliated. And he doesn't seem to mind them." So of course Jimmy's not trying to beat up on little guys. The little guy should just acknowledge he was wrong and change the name of his restaurant to something like "Caribbean Cheeseburgers" or "Island Burgers" (there's one here in NYC).

I object to references to Jimmy's "scumbag" lawyers. If I were Jimmy's lawyer (my ultimate dream job!) I'd do the same thing, and I don't think many people would think of me as a scumbag.

Oops - sorry OPH - Just read your post which says the same thing as mine.

SmartWomaninShortSkirt wrote:I object to references to Jimmy's "scumbag" lawyers. If I were Jimmy's lawyer (my ultimate dream job!) I'd do the same thing, and I don't think many people would think of me as a scumbag.

While it may be Jimmy's lawyers who are doing this, they work for him. A lawyer only does what his client wants him to do.

I also object to the "scumbag" lawyers reference. Although many people think I am.

Oh God, we are gonna get Lee going again

This has been covered, but my 2 cents (again)

Jimmy has worked very long and hard to cultivate what he has and he truely has created an entertainment empire. he has done this basically on his own without the benefit of radio hits and/or any apparent major label help. He has gone from working clubs to arenas, to Texas Stadium through his own hard work. In addition the word/term "Margaritaville" is part and parcel of what Jimmy is. He is associated with it and it is an image he is entitled to protect. If some doofas ran a sh*thole bar and called it Margaritaville and someother doofas thinks Jimmy is endorsing it and then the word spreads through places like this, it can hurt him.

Hey, I remember $7.50 Jimmy tickets. I agree he has enough money. But nobody has a right to take advantage of what he built

I'm from Maryland and I have not heard of this. BUT I have not problem with this either... back in the late 60's, I was sitting under a palm tree in southern Florida strumming my beat up guitar and these three people on a road trip came up to me to hear me play. I said, "Welcome to Margaritaville!" We had a great time singing, drinking and sharing our dreams and that was the end of that. A guy named Jimmy took a liking to my philosophy about sailing and wanting to be a pirate so we had a couple more drinks b4 they loaded up and headed off up north on the A1A.

Am I mad that this guy "Jimmy Buckett' or "Bullett" (or something like that) might have used my material later on? No way. He had absolutley no talent. Said he might start up a band though... all I have to say is GOOD LUCK!!! He only knew 3 chords that he learned from college b4 he flunked out!!!

Man, what a looser...

There is a bar in the South Side of Pittsburgh called "Margaritaville." It's been like that for 20 years at least. I know there is a reason why they were never forced to change their name but I can't remember. Does any of my fellow Pittsburghers know the reason why? Was this bar named Margaritaville before Jimmy trademarked the name/phrase?

Also, this restaurant was call Cheesburger's 'n Paradise. I'm sorry but it IS different than Cheeseburger in Paradise. Jimmy tell your lawyers to lay off!! You don't own everything associated with the tropics.

Jimmy is just protecting what he has built but my guess is it doesn't pain him too much to do it. He is far removed from the little man realty and that is ok. His lawyers may advise him, but it is still his call. The deal is, if you let one do it then what. So if the guy is a PH he is probably disappointed in all of this, but down deep he had to know he needed to name it Tropical Chesseburger, anything thing other than CIP.

SchoolGirlHeart wrote:I'm not totally up on this (Lee, AF, where are you??), but if you have a trademark, and you don't "vigorously defend" it, you could lose it. I might not be right on the money, here, but I think I'm in the ballpark.

So, while Jimmy may not WANT to hurt the little guy, he has to defend "Margaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," etc, or risk losing them.

correct. it is not a question of what he wants to do, but what he is required to do under the law.

the law requires you to vigorously defend your trademark, servicemark, or patent. if you fail to do so, your right to the TM, SM, or patent can be challenged. this requirement translates into, if you know of anyone violating your TM and you do not go after them for infringing on it, you are subject to losing it. the law does not distinguish between "big" and "little" infringers. therefore if the lawyers do not pursue ALL infringers, a large corporation with good intellectual property lawyers could challenge your trademark and essentially steal it away because you failed to defend your TM against small time infringers.

imagine unlicensed Disney owned Margaritaville restaurants in their theme parks or Barcardi Margaritaville rum and the confusion it would generate.

for the record my company name and logo are registered & protected under servicemarks #75-126,613 & 75-126,614, so i know how this game is played.

wanderingtoes wrote:Jimmy is just protecting what he has built but my guess is it doesn't pain him too much to do it. He is far removed from the little man realty and that is ok. His lawyers may advise him, but it is still his call. The deal is, if you let one do it then what. So if the guy is a PH he is probably disappointed in all of this, but down deep he had to know he needed to name it Tropical Chesseburger, anything thing other than CIP.

nope, not his call.... not if he wants to keep the TM.

Red Parrot wrote:There is a bar in the South Side of Pittsburgh called "Margaritaville." It's been like that for 20 years at least. I know there is a reason why they were never forced to change their name but I can't remember. Does any of my fellow Pittsburghers know the reason why? Was this bar named Margaritaville before Jimmy trademarked the name/phrase?

Also, this restaurant was call Cheesburger's 'n Paradise. I'm sorry but it IS different than Cheeseburger in Paradise. Jimmy tell your lawyers to lay off!! You don't own everything associated with the tropics.

your TM's & SM's also protect you from close variants, used for a similar product. i.e. in this case the name of a restaurant or food.

Let me add a recent example in Chicago that does not involve Buffett but relates to this topic closely. The restaurant chain Cheeburger, Cheeburger recently opened their first restaurant in the Chicago area (with some hope of more to come). Before they opened they were sued by Sam Sianis of Billy Goat's Tavern, of the famed Sketch "cheeburger, cheeburger, chips, no fries, Pepsi". Sianis claimed that he held the right to the "cheeburger, cheeburger" phrase.

The case was settled, with the restaurant allowed to open, though it is now called Cheeburger---just one. The chain also had to agree to not open another restaurant with 125 miles of Chicago.