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New York, New York US - On January 21, 1997 the Supreme Court refused to revive a lawsuit in which Holiday Inns Inc. accused a hotel-reservations company of infringing on its trademark, 1 800 HOLIDAY (Holidays Inns vs. 800 Reservation Inc., 96-783.)
The company, Call Management, uses 1 800 405-4320 (replacing the . O. , or 6, in HOLIDAY, with a . 0. ), so that misdialing callers reach Call Management. The company has captured calls representing $275,000 in bookings, and over $6,300 in commissions paid by Holiday Inns to Call Management.
A federal judge had ordered Call Management to stop using the 800 number, ruling that the
firm was violating federal trademark law . in a most insidious and parasitic
manner. , but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judge.
s ruling and threw out the lawsuit, noting that Call Management had not
promoted its similar vanity number, and that no unlawful infringement could
occur without such promotion.
Author/Correspondent's Profile: Judith Oppenheimer, President, ICB Toll Free (800/888) News