Intellectual Property Law

Thumbs Down

By Anthony Verna, Esq.

As many people know by now, At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper will be ending its television run, which started with the now-famous pairing of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in 1975. The pair of movie critics (now Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper) will most likely start their own venture in television.

As Ebert's statement on his website says, "We made television history, and established the trademarked catch-phrase 'Two thumbs up.' The trademark still belongs to me and Marlene Iglitzen, Gene's widow, and the thumbs will return."

Quite true. The trademark for "Two thumbs up" is owned by The Ebert Company, Ltd. and Siskel Productions, Ltd. How smart. Knowing of our own mortality, the two friends started shell companies (which is what they really are) in order to keep the trademark going, knowing its importance in the entertainment industry, in order to continue it.

There were varying reports, with Disney (the producer of the show) saying that Ebert wasn't allowing Disney to use the trademark while negotations on Ebert's role continuing and Ebert saying that Disney pulled the use of the mark itself.

Either way, I wanted to point out the intelligence of having two corporations own the trademark - as corporations can theoretically live on forever, while people (we know) cannot and I wanted to point out that, all too often, reports misidentify simple points of intellectual property. Looking back at the USA Today story, the report says that Ebert owns the "copyright" on "Two thumbs up," which is exactly what I heard this morning on the news - and my ears perked up.

Getting back to basics, it's quite simple. The trademark refers to some kind of goods or services in a business (in this case, "Two thumbs up" refers to, quite simply, "television programs and appearances in the field of motion picture critiques"). A copyright is a right in a work of art (usually) that prevents anyone but the creator from making copies.

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An article in the Montreal Gazette - the main English-language newspaper in Montreal - discusses how the United States sees Canada lax in intellectual property protection. I found it to be a short, but interesting read.

Full post as published by Trademark, Copyright and Entertainment Law Forum on July 22, 2008 (boomark / email).