Menhart v. Grossman [1]

Eric Menhart is a lawyer who practices Internet law or "cyberlaw" in Washington, D.C. He is the principal attorney at a law firm called "CyberLaw P.C" and operates the blog Cyberlawg [2]. Michael Grossman, a Chicago-based attorney, operated a blog entitled "CyberBlawg." Menhart sent Grossman a letter asserting Grossman was violating his trademark rights. In his own blog entry [3] about the topic, Menhart says that the letter was "informal" and was about a "potential dilution" of his blog's name. Grossman has since changed the name of his blog.

This is part of Menhart's ongoing quest to trademark the term "cyberlaw." In December 2007, Menhart applied for trademark rights on the term, sparking outcries from many cyberlawyers who claimed that Menhart's application would not succeed because the term "cyberlaw" is generic. In February 2008, Menhart amended [4] his trademark application, and he now is only trying to register his firm's stylized logo which incorporates the word "cyberlaw." In Eric Goldman's view [5], this move signifies that cyberlawyers, including Grossman, "are now free to use the term 'Cyberlaw' for its dictionary meaning without fear of getting sued by Menhart."