An inventor has sued Lance Armstrong for design patent infringement.
The design patent claim reads "the ornamental design for a pet collar with
an embossed slogan for encouraging charitable contributions." Drawing
shows a pet collar in dashed lines with 'BARKSTRONG" on it. Complaint is
well written but filed pro se. Perhaps the patentee used an attorney to
draft the complaint, but the attorney refused to file it.
Accused product is a dog collar. On the Livestrong web site, the dog
collars all say LIVESTRONG. http://www.store-laf.org/pet
for an interesting issue of the cross between patents and trademarks.
