Proper Use of Our Bunjee^® Trademarks

BUNJEE is a registered trademark (Int'l. Class 028, #2874908 United States Patent and Trademark Office) and the BUNJEE, BUNJEE JUMPER, BUNJEE X-PRO, BUNJEE CUESPORTS, BUNJEE LOMAX, BUNJEE BILLIARDS, BUNJEE UK, BUNJEE CANADA, BUNJEE DE, BUNJEE BLASTER, BUNJEE DEALER, BUNJEE LEAGUETRAKK, and LEAGUETRAKK PUBLISHER words, symbols, designs and logos are registered trademarks, trademarks, or service marks proprietary to or licensed exclusively to Bunjee Cue Sports Group.

Our Company's trademarks are among its most valuable assets and their proper use is important to us, to your business, and to our consumers. Please help us protect the value and integrity of our trademarks by adhering to the following guidelines whenever you are referring to our Company's trademarks, products or services, and by reporting infringements to us promptly.

What is a Trademark?

Trademarks are words, symbols, designs and logos (marks) that inform consumers they are purchasing a product or service originating in one way or another from a particular company or other legitimately authorized source. For instance, anytime you see the BUNJEE^® trademark, you will know that the product was manufactured by Bunjee CueSports International, Inc or by a company following our quality standards and using our trademark under a license.

An inherent attribute of being sole proprietor of a trademark is the automatic prohibition of its use by others. We allow the utilization of our trademarks only under written permission in the form of license agreement.

Parties using our name, trademark, or trade-dress within the sporting goods industry without a license for reasons including but not limited to commercial gain, attracting sponsors, attracting Internet users to their Web site, and capturing our audience and/or reputation for commercial purposes are subjecting themselves to possible severe penalties.

What is "Trade-dress?"

"The Lanham Act, known as the trademark law, protects rights in non-registered trademarks. One kind of non-registered trademark is trade-dress, which starts its life as the appearance or ornamentation of the goods or the containers for the goods, and becomes a protectable non-registered mark when it acquires a secondary meaning [which indicates the source of the product] in the minds of the consumers in the relevant market.

"As it happens, a central intellectual property issue in 'trade-dress,' a fairly recent concept in the trademark law, asks if the appearance of a product has acquired a secondary meaning in the market place as indicating the source of the product. (Hey, look, there's a Bunjee^® jump cue!) For a frame of reference, imagine going to the local [pool room], looking for a [jump cue] marketed under the [Bunjee^® name], and which may have a distinctive color pattern and design, [including those] on the container. You select a product without seeing the name, but with the same or similar distinctive color pattern and design, [you are] thinking that it is the [Bunjee^®] product, and later, [whether you've actually bought it or not,] upon closer inspection, see it is not [the real Bunjee^® product] but [instead] a competitor’s product...(Oh, wait, that's not a Bunjee^® jump cue)

" You were deceived by trade-dress, which is [and limited to] the incidental, arbitrary, or ornamental, features constituting a product’s appearance.*

*Above statements by Joel I. Rosenblatt, Attorney at Law and a Registered Patent Attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Thanks for the help, Mr. Rosenblatt! :-)

BBI, Inc appropriately asserts that most "copy-cues" are an infringement of its trade rights, and most seriously when obtained from sources we have contracted for the production of our products, and that branding of such products with a mark, whether proprietary to BBI, does not excuse this violation.

Now consider what happened at the 2004 BCA Trade Expo:

In Las Vegas, at the 2004 BCA Trade Expo, one exhibitor was discretely visited by BCA official and required to dismantle and remove from their exhibit space a billiard table that they branded with their name, but which was almost an exact copy of another trademarked company's billiard table. Reportedly, the removed billiard table was made by the same overseas manufacturer contracted by the trademarked company.

In another, unrealized incident, it was observed that a BCA Official and an attorney hired by the BCA discretely visited one exhibitor to inform them that their continued use of the BUNJEE trademark and trade-dress would result in removal and destruction of the products in question from the exhibit, ejection from the BCA, and possibly expose themselves to more serious consequences. It was reported in this incident also that the offending items were purchased from an overseas manufacturer contracted under exclusive terms with BBI, Inc.

Proper Use of Our Trademarks

Proper use of trademarks involves a handful of basic and easy to apply rules. Proper trademark use is important because it educates consumers, the trade and the general public and avoids confusion. In order to protect and preserve the value of our trademarks, the general rules set forth below should be followed whenever our Company's trademarks are used.

A. Trademarks are Adjectives, not Nouns

Trademarks are adjectives intended to identify a particular company, or group of related companies, as the source or origin of a product.

Examples:
Incorrect: You can purchase Bunjee^® at our Web site at www...
Correct: You can purchase Bunjee^® cues at our Web site at www...

B. Trademarks Should Not Be Used Without an Associated Generic Product Name

Because trademarks are adjectives that identify the source or origin of the product, they should always be used with the correct generic product name for the product item.

Examples:
Incorrect: We know you will enjoy jumping with your Bunjee.
Correct:   We know you will enjoy jumping with your Bunjee^® jump cue.
Incorrect: Yes, we sell Bunjee.
Correct:   Yes, we sell Bunjee^® jump cues.

C. How to Refer to More Than One Trademarked Product

When you are referring to more than a single product item, do not pluralize the trademark. Instead, describe a plural reference to trademarked products by using the plural form of the generic product name.

Examples:
Incorrect: A new shipment of Bunjees arrived this week.
Correct:   A new shipment of Bunjee^® jump cues arrived this week.
Incorrect: There are many leagues that allow Bunjees.
Correct:   There are many leagues that allow the Bunjee^® jump cues.

D. Trademarks Should not be Used as Verbs

Because trademarks are adjectives, they must never be used as verbs to describe an activity.

Example:
Incorrect: "You may win the game if you Bunjee when your opponent blocks you."
Correct:   "You may win the game by using a Bunjee^® jump cue when your opponent blocks you."

E. Trademarks Should not be Used in the Possessive Form

Nouns are sometimes used in the possessive form. For instance, one might say "This room's temperature is perfect." Because trademarks are adjectives, not nouns, they should not be made possessive. Instead, the generic product name should be made possessive.

Example:
Incorrect: This Bunjee's standard features include a set of joint protectors.
Correct:   This Bunjee^® jump cue’s standard features include a set of joint protectors.

When Does an Infringement of the Bunjee^® Trademark Occur?

Thanks for asking!

Parties who use our name, trademark, or trade-dress within the sporting goods industry - without a license from us to do so - for reasons of, including but not limited to, commercial gain, attracting sponsors, attracting Internet users to their Web site, and/or capturing our audience and/or reputation for commercial purposes are infringing upon our trademark.

Examples:
- When a seller verbally claims the product he/she is offering is a Bunjee^® product when it is not, or claims that his/her products are the same as Bunjee^® products, or claims that the products are "made by Bunjee" or "this is a real Bunjee cue, we just stripped off their logo and put ours at the factory." (These are common sales tactics used to push counterfeit or copied goods on to the consumer.)
- When a manufacturer making products for us, under exclusive contract or license, sells that product or a confusingly similar product to other buyers without our permission.
- When a retailer advertises on its Web site that they sell something "Bunjee" and do not have written permission (a license) to do so, regardless if that retailer is aware it needs permission.
- When an importer, and more seriously for those who have been previously informed of who our manufacturers are and have signed Bunjee Distribution License Agreements, imports confusingly similar product from the same factory or source that we do.
- When a retailer pays for or otherwise lists a link to their Web site indicating that they have "Bungee Cues" for sale, and instead are offering their own version of the product.
- When a retailer sells or otherwise provides to a consumer a confusingly similar product or service not obtained from us or otherwise authorized by us.

How Can I Help Prevent Infringements of the Bunjee^® Trademarks?

Thanks for asking!

1) If you sell or want to sell our Bunjee products, get licensed! There's no fee involved (except where there are exclusive territorial marketing terms), no tricks or gimmicks, just make a few ethical promises, and that's all! (Besides, being unlicensed may indicate to your customers some undesired business practices, and that could seriously harm your business reputation, to say the least.)

2) Simply e-mail and ask us if "so and so" is a licensed dealer or not, or if you suspect that you or someone you know may have been a victim of fraudulent sales of counterfeit or tradedress violating goods, please e-mail us at: trademark@bunjeecuesports.com.

When reporting trademark violations, please include as much of the following information as possible:

A. Type of establishment (Web site, retail store, pool room, pro shop, etc.)
B. Address of establishment (at a minimum, include the city and state).
C. Date you observed the violation.
D. For magazines, catalogs, and other periodicals (including movies, television shows, Web site ads, and radio), please include the name of the periodical, television show, movie, Web site, or radio advertisement and the approximate air date.

OK, so what happens after that?

- We will then decide if and when we will give the information to an attorney who will go after the infringers for his cut of the restitution that can be awarded by a civil court. (We don't even have to pay the attorney fees if we don't want to... in criminal cases, the government pays those fees because the government is the plantiff in criminal cases.)

- We will then decide if and when we will give the information to the police so they can deal with the situation from a criminal offense point of view. (Please note: Once a criminal charge has been filed with the police, we will become powerless to negotiate settlements and get these types of charges against infringers dropped.)

Note: We have up to 10 years from the date of an alleged offense to "file."

What are the possible consequences for infringing a Trademark?

US federal law outlines stiff criminal and civil penalties, including up to 10 years in prison plus a hefty fine for each incident of infringement. Civil penalties include but are not limited to hefty fines, restitution, and damage awards (up to 4 times the value of the infringed product). Infringing product(s) and marketing material(s) may be confiscated and destroyed by the US Customs Service (without requiring court action). Other penalties may be imposed by other organizations, such as the BCA Trade Organization, including disbarment and denial of trade show participation. Then there are the incidental consequences which arise at the consumer level, such as bad press in news groups about the infringer's activity.

Disclaimer: Statements made here by BBI, Inc, its Officers or employees, should not be construed as legal advice or opinion, but instead friendly ethical and moral advice.