A Fort Lauderdale company that claims ownership of trademark rights for the term “MEANAGER” in connection with clothing has sued Urban Dictionary, an online dictionary of slang words and phrases, and another Defendant, for allegedly selling competing goods that use the term “MEANAGER”. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and is pending before Chief Judge Federico A. Moreno.
The complaint alleges that Urban Dictionary is infringing the Florida company’s trademark by using the term “MEANAGER” on articles that it sells through its website. According to the complaint, Urban Dictionary sells articles that feature the slang words and phrases that appear on its website, and takes issue with the sale of articles bearing the term “MEANAGER”. The term has three definitions on the web site, one as a slang phrase for a mean boss, i.e. a “MEANAGER” (as a play on words for Manager); and the other two relating to teenagers that exhibit hurtful behavior (a play on words for the terms Mean and Teenager). According to Wikipedia, another online dictionary, Urban Dictionary currently has 4.79 million definitions on its website.
The Florida company alleges that it has promoted its mark through websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn. With the ever increasing amount of business that is done through the internet, it is no surprise that cases such as these are being filed a more rapid rate.