{"id":5732,"date":"2018-10-02T11:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T15:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=5732"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:52:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:52:30","slug":"twenty-thousand-litigants-sea-intellectual-property-laws-reinforcing-bad-blood-family-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/twenty-thousand-litigants-sea-intellectual-property-laws-reinforcing-bad-blood-family-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Thousand Litigants Under the Sea: How Intellectual Property Laws are Reinforcing Bad Blood Between Family Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Family members share with each other. However, family members also sue each other. But at least when you sue a family member you can share a ride to the courthouse. However, it does not look like Celine Cousteau, the granddaughter of famed scientist and explorer Jacques Cousteau, will be sharing a ride with her step-grandmother, Francine Cousteau, to a New York federal courthouse where the two parties are set to litigate what is \u201cthe latest battle over the pioneering undersea <\/span>explorer\u2019s legacy<\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/span>
\nFrancine Cousteau, Jacques Cousteau\u2019s \u201clongtime mistress-turned-second-wife\u201d is the head of The Cousteau Society, which owns \u201cthe intellectual property associated with the marine explorer\u2019s name.\u201d Jacques Cousteau\u2019s name, the red hat associated with him (think Bill Murray in A Life Aquatic), and sayings hold \u201cat least <\/span>10 U.S. trademark registrations<\/a>.\u201d Francine believes that her step-granddaughter has made a <\/span>\u201cflagrant usurpation\u201d<\/a> of Jacques\u2019 intellectual property and is asking the New York federal court to \u201cpreliminarily and permanently enjoin\u201d Celine from using her grandfather\u2019s \u201cname and signature red cap to promote her television program.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Francine believes that Celine is exploiting her grandfather\u2019s intellectual property rights in order \u201cto manufacture publicity\u201d for her television program.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Celine\u2019s television program aims to share \u201cher grandfather\u2019s work and explorations\u2026[by] revisiting the places her grandfather explored generations before her.\u201d The program is entitled \u201cThe Adventure Continues,\u201d which The Cousteau Society argues is \u201cconfusingly similar\u201d to Jacques\u2019 popular \u201cThe Journey Continues\u201d trademark. The suit also claims that Celine illegally used a \u201ccopyrighted image of Jacques in his red cap\u201d for a press kit that she released. Francine believes that Celine is exploiting her grandfather\u2019s intellectual property rights in order \u201cto manufacture publicity\u201d for her television program. <\/span><\/span>
\nWhile Francine has a strong case against the granddaughter of her late husband, The Cousteau Society has a long history of <\/span>going after members of Jacques\u2019 first family<\/a>. For example, Jacques and the Cousteau Society once brought suit against Jacques\u2019 eldest son from his first marriage, Jean-Michael Cousteau, for opening an \u201ceco-resort\u201d that used the name \u201cCousteau Fiji Islands Resort.\u201d Ultimately, a San Francisco court ruled in favor of Jacques and ordered, in pertinent part, that the name of the resort be changed to \u201cJean-Michael Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort,\u201d and that \u201cJean-Michael must be at least as large as Cousteau in the resort advertising.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\nIn light of the legal battle between Jacques and his first born, Francine\u2019s litigation against Celine is simply an extension of The Cousteau Society\u2019s tradition of reminding Jacques\u2019 first family that \u201c[d]ynasties have never worked. It is not because a kid is born from your sperm that he has the necessary qualities to replace you.\u201d <\/span><\/span>
\nFrancine\u2019s two children, Diane Cousteau and Pierre Cousteau, sit alongside their mother as board members for the Society. Francine, Diane, and Pierre were at one time Jacques\u2019 \u201c<\/span>secret family<\/a>,\u201d and after living \u201c\u2018in the dark for 15 years\u2019\u201d they are now a legal force not to be reckoned with. In fact, The Cousteau Society received a \u201csix-figure sum\u201d from Walt Disney after Bill Murray wore a red cap similar to Jacques\u2019 in \u201cThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\nThe past litigation between Jacques and his son Jean-Michael, the current litigation between Francine and Celine, and the \u201cbad blood between the two factions of the Cousteau family\u201d are all reminders that trademark and patent laws are stronger than family ties. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>The suit includes claims under federal and state trademark and unfair competition laws, and seeks a permanent injunction, any profits derived from the use of its trademarks, and statutory and punitive damages.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family members share with each other. However, family members also sue each other. But at least when you sue a family member you can share a ride to the courthouse. However, it does not look like Celine Cousteau, the granddaughter of famed scientist and explorer Jacques Cousteau, will be sharing a ride with her step-grandmother, …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6915,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732\/revisions\/6915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}