1675-2 The Tiffany Hotel -w
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mh NAME GAME BEACH HOTELS HAVE HISTORY ON THEIR SIDE 08/18/1999
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1999, The Miami Herald
DATE: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Editorial PAGE: 16A LENGTH: 44 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: The (Tiffany) Hotel (a)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff
MEMO: OPINION
NAME GAME BEACH HOTELS HAVE HISTORY ON THEIR SIDE
Tiffany and others overreact. They should negotiate, not sue.
So, did Tiffany & Co. consider suing Donald Trump, too, for naming his
daughter Tiffany, convinced that The Don's little "jewel" would confound
potential customers?
The world-famous jewelry emporium definitely overreacted in suing the
Tiffany Hotel on Miami Beach, forcing it to change its name under the logic
that it didn't want anyone to check into the hotel thinking it might be the
store. So the Miami Beach Tiffany's is now officially called The Hotel, which
is like naming your pet feline "Cat. "
If this were an isolated instance of corporate bullying it might be funny.
But fact is a number of Art Deco hotel names have come under assault by
nit-picking lawyers of like-named corporations because of an unfortunate
recent change in federal law and South Beach's emergence as a hot spot.
Two things would correct this: common sense and an amended federal law.
Miami Beach is not a new playground for the affluent and well-traveled.
When these Art Deco treasures were new almost seven decades ago, they were
given names such as Tiffany, Fairmont and Ritz to lend a bit of the gloss and
glamour that the original high-toned hotels in New York, Paris and San
Francisco came by naturally. No one got them confused - Miami Beach has always
peddled fantasy.
But a well-intended, 1996 amendment to the trademark law established the
concept of trademark "dilution" - the idea that a company's trademark could
be weakened if used by another, even in a different business.
To a point, that's fair enough. The Fairmont in San Francisco can argue
that the same-named Beach hotel is diluting its high-toned reputation. So it
forced the one on the Beach to change its name - it's now The Fairwind.
But that same logic hardly can be applied to Tiffany the jeweler. Congress
should amend that 1996 amendment to put the burden of proving "dilution" on
the corporate plaintiff, and it should allow exceptions in the case of
historically appropriate businesses. The Axt Deco hotels surely would qualify.
In the meantime, big business owners and conglomerates - for the sake of
their own reputations - should leave these Art Deco "jewels" alone.
CAPTION: MARICE COHN BAND /Herald Staff
KEYWORDS: TIFFANY LAWSUIT MIAMI BEACH HOTEL
TAG: 9908190142
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