Breakfast cereal Kellogg's suing Thanasi Kokkinakis over "Special K" nickname

Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
I thought this was a joke at first, but nope.

Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis is facing a court battle over his right to use Special K nickname commercially.

A directions hearing between breakfast cereal giant Kellogg’s, which owns the right to the Special K trademark in Australia, and Kokkinakis will take place in the Federal Court in Adelaide on Thursday.
Kellogg wants to stop the 21-year-old from using the term Special K as part of a branding campaign of clothing and tennis wear, the Adelaide Advertiser says.

With news of his courtroom battle breaking on Thursday morning. Kokkinakis appeared to see the lighter side of his strange Kellogg’s dispute becoming a major story. (He posted the laugh crying emoji on his twitter page).

Thanasi Kokkinakis ✔ @TKokkinakis
images


The Advertiser reports the Kokkinakis Special K trademark is owned by a company controlled by the rising star’s father Trevor.

The Adelaide newspaper also reports Kokkinakis plans to use the Special K nickname to create a branding logo which can be used on apparel and other commercial products similar to the logos created by tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. .
Click to expand...
 
I'm guessing that they may be suing him for trademark dilution. I know zilch about Australian law though.

There are two parts:

Blurring: for when you blur a mark from being associated with just one product with another product from another market (e.g. Microsoft shoes).

Tarnishment: for when you weaken a mark via unflattering or unsavoury association (e.g. Thanaski Special K).
 
Lol...because he thinks he is special.

Bty, Special Kokk might work better anyway...and I already has a logo design in my mind..
 
Kokkinakis is certainly going to lose this case as Kellogs has been running with this 'Special K' thing for years.

He's definitely doing what you call blurring here.

Bender said:
I'm guessing that they may be suing him for trademark dilution. I know zilch about Australian law though.

There are two parts:

Blurring: for when you blur a mark from being associated with just one product with another product from another market (e.g. Microsoft shoes).

Tarnishment: for when you weaken a mark via unflattering or unsavoury association (e.g. Thanaski Special K).
Click to expand...
 
Bartelby said:
Kokkinakis is certainly going to lose this case as Kellogs has been running with this 'Special K' thing for years.

He's definitely doing what you call blurring here.
Click to expand...
It certainly is a case of blurring, at least from what I can see. 'Special K' is, as you said, already firmly established and is practically a household name.

They can try and get him for tarnishment too if it turns out he sucks or has a poor reputation on tour, but that'd be more along the lines of a joke or a headline from The Onion than something that'd happen in reality.
 
Bender said:
I'm guessing that they may be suing him for trademark dilution. I know zilch about Australian law though.

There are two parts:

Blurring: for when you blur a mark from being associated with just one product with another product from another market (e.g. Microsoft shoes).

Tarnishment: for when you weaken a mark via unflattering or unsavoury association (e.g. Thanaski Special K).
Click to expand...

That ship had already sailed in these parts. Special K is/was a common moniker for the rave/party drug, Ketamine (related to PCP). Special K has also been used as a derogatory nickname for individuals who are mentally challenged and have a first or last name that starts with K. Special K has been the nickname for rapper, Kevin Keaton, and a number of different athletes.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=special k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_K_(disambiguation)
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
That ship had already sailed in these parts. Special K is/was a common moniker for the rave/party drug, Ketamine (related to PCP). Special K has also been used as a derogatory nickname for individuals who are mentally challenged and have a first or last name that starts with K. Special K has been the nickname for rapper, Kevin Keaton, and a number of different athletes.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=special k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_K_(disambiguation)
Click to expand...

Nicknames and slang usage don't count for these purposes. I think ketamine is branded under various different names. The issue here is that Kokk is trying to market Special K, which would mean trademarks are in play here.

Kellogg meanwhile are able to trademark Special K even though the term has been around a while, because trademark laws allow for generic terms to be registered so long as they aren't descriptive of the product or the market itself. So Apple Inc was registrable because they sell computers, not apples or fruit in general.

IIRC, one way to get around this is to trademark a specific logo (e.g. a graphic containing a generic term) or a phrase that contains a generic term, but this means that the holder of the trademark cannot sue for infringement unless the alleged infringer copies the logo or the term itself as a whole for their own marketing purposes. So you can name your sushi restaurant Wasabi, but it's not registrable per se unless the registration includes a specific graphic design or phrase. Example below:

wasabi-sign-and-logo-london-england-C89HRT.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: JMR
Bender said:
Nicknames and slang usage don't count for these purposes. I think ketamine is branded under a different name. The issue here is that Kokk is trying to market Special K, which would mean trademarks are in play here.

Kellogg meanwhile are able to trademark 'Special K' even though the term has been around a while, because trademark laws allow for generic terms to be registered so long as they aren't descriptive of the product or the market itself. So Apple Inc was registrable because because they sell computers, not apples or fruit in general.

IIRC, one way to get around this is to trademark a specific logo (e.g. a graphic containing the term) or phrase that contains a generic term, but this means that the holder of the trademark cannot sue for infringement unless the alleged infringer copies the logo or the term itself for their own marketing purposes. So you can name your sushi restaurant 'Wasabi', but it's not registrable per se until the registration includes a specific graphic design or phrase.
Click to expand...

Would have thought that Kellog's might have had an issue with Kevin Keaton's stage name. But never heard anything about it.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
Would have thought that Kellog's might have had an issue with Kevin Keaton's stage name. But never heard anything about it.
Click to expand...
There are many reasons why a company may chose to sue or not to sue:
  • If Keaton did not register Special K as a trademark, then they really don't have much reason to do it.
  • If Keaton registered his trademark first, then Special K would hope that they don't cause a ruckus in case they lose, or end up having to buy him out or pay penalties / royalties to him for infringing his rights.
  • If he's really popular and they sue, then for business reasons they may choose not to, even if they are likely to win.
 
Apple certainly had to fight an issue with Apple of Beatles fame.

It somewhat irks me that they actually had the audacity to use this name.

But then so do suits in turtle necks and jeans pretending to be hip.

Bender said:
Nicknames and slang usage don't count for these purposes. I think ketamine is branded under various different names. The issue here is that Kokk is trying to market Special K, which would mean trademarks are in play here.

Kellogg meanwhile are able to trademark Special K even though the term has been around a while, because trademark laws allow for generic terms to be registered so long as they aren't descriptive of the product or the market itself. So Apple Inc was registrable because they sell computers, not apples or fruit in general.

IIRC, one way to get around this is to trademark a specific logo (e.g. a graphic containing a generic term) or a phrase that contains a generic term, but this means that the holder of the trademark cannot sue for infringement unless the alleged infringer copies the logo or the term itself as a whole for their own marketing purposes. So you can name your sushi restaurant Wasabi, but it's not registrable per se unless the registration includes a specific graphic design or phrase. Example below:

wasabi-sign-and-logo-london-england-C89HRT.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Mainad said:
I thought "Special K" was an unofficial nickname for Nishikori? At least I've heard other players refer to him that way in the past.
Click to expand...
Here in Aus the media like to use Special K for Kyrgios and Kokkinakis. I guess Kokk's family wanted to capitalize on that and that's where Kelloggs comes in.
 
It's understandable. Just imagine how livid you would be if you walked it to a supermarket to get some breakfast cereal, and accidentally walked out with a life sized cut-out of Kokkiniakis instead.

It's an easy mistake to make, as I once walked in to a shop to buy socks, and left with Jack Sock as my doubles partner. On another occasion I wanted to buy some yoghurt. It came in a surprisingly big and heavy box. I got home, unpacked it and Gilles Muller was inside. Unbelievable.
 
Special K is also marketed almost exclusively to women, so I'm not sure what that does for brand 'Kokkinakis'.
 
MarcusInKensington said:
It's understandable. Just imagine how livid you would be if you walked it to a supermarket to get some breakfast cereal, and accidentally walked out with a life sized cut-out of Kokkiniakis instead.
Click to expand...

LOL Or you asked for some Special K, and were given a little bottle of Ketamine instead. I don't know anyone that would associate the phrase "Special K" with some chitty high glycemic index carbohydrate garbage breakfast cereal rather than Ketamine.

Perhaps I need a better calibre of societe....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MatsPhilander
Kokk Vs Special K
Replies
8
Views
1K
Purplemonster
Purplemonster
Back
Top