Karaoke Forums

I was just wondering why Sound Choice would register their trademark on 2/14/12 for the purpose of "Conducting entertainment exhibitions in the nature of karaoke shows." Now you already had it registered previously in 1995 for "pre-recorded magnetic audio cassette tapes and compact discs containing musical compositions and compact discs containing video related to musical compositions." Why the additional trademark registration? Are you planning on doing shows? Because I would think the first trademark would be sufficient for the product, itself.

Also, the trademark registration said it was first used in commerce (conducting Karaoke shows) on 7/21/10. I'm confused. Is this part of the "unfair competition" allegation you were talking about? Where are your shows?

Can you shed some light? Thanks.

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Birdofsong

Come on harrington, you have two questions to answer. What other trademarks does SC own, and why Sound Choice would register their trademark on 2/14/12 for the purpose of "Conducting entertainment exhibitions in the nature of karaoke shows." We see you there, lurking. Please answer the questions.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

We obtained the new registrations (one for each version of the mark) to account for the GEM series. Because the GEM series is licensed to KJs, rather than sold outright, the licensees' use of the marks inures to SC's benefit as a matter of trademark law. So, while SC is not doing any shows itself, its licensees are.



That was the date on which the first licensee began using the GEM series to put on karaoke shows, as nearly as we could determine.

I hadn't really thought about it, but it does boost our unfair competition claim, now that you mention it.

Just because I'm listed in the "online" section doesn't mean that I'm reading every post that comes up.

As far as trademarks go, SC owns at least the following active federal registrations: SOUND CHOICE (3 registrations), SOUND CHOICE & Design (2 registrations), KARAOKE STAR SERIES & Design, UTILITY DISC, PERFORMER'S CHOICE, PERFORMER'S CHOICE & Design, THE FOUNDATION, THE FOUNDATION (Stylized), REMINISCING SERIES, and CDG PLUS (Stylized).

I am not aware of any other registrations, but there may be (probably are) unregistered trademarks and exclusive licenses that would include the right to police uses. They have never asked me to investigate or bring suit based upon ownership of another mark.

So, I have original DK disc's (2 sets actually) & SGB and I rip them to my hard drive. I'm certified by CB and SC (for arguments sake, though I haven't completed my SC yet).. later SC comes up with the DK copy-write, and CB comes up with SGB..
They can sue me for media shifting the DK and SGB?

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

I think it's unlinkely that they would, but if the Covenant Not To Sue doesn't include the newly aquired marks then technically I think they could.

I'm sure there would be some grace period for audits and announcements made of the new ownership prior to suing already certified KJ's.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

I had Spoken to Greg Taylor at chartbuster about the SGB's When I bought My CB6000 set. He said YES, They do own the SGB Series and he went as far as to say that it was ok for me to use them on my computer since I was a Certified ChartBuster KJ.

There is your answer.
=)

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Sal "Kjmann" Esquivel
Karaoke With Sal - Website

Thank you.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Has anyone gone through a CB audit recently and been questioned about SGB? ChrisAvis maybe?

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

Well then, that should be made pubic knowledge, on their website, so people know this. To my way of thinking it's pretty shady of them to hide what they are holding, and just sue people based on the lack of that knowledge. Amazon sells these disks at less than a dollar a piece, if you buy the 68 disc set, which is a great set to get started with. A couple cheap sets like that, and you can get a good start, and then buy better stuff as you make money. It's a good way to to this. This whole thing about media shifting is ridiculous. Sure, you could use the disks, but you could have 25 flash drives loaded with karaoke music. Guy comes to audit you, how would he ever know?? Karaoke doesn't have to be run off a hard drive. These companies could really help themselves out and just allow for shifting without all the BS that goes along with it. OR, but up the rights, as Tricerasoft has done, and allow for downloading with public use allowances.

Piracy is not going to stop, any time soon. The ONLY way to stop it is at the source. If you don't stop the source, which are the programs that allow file sharing, then you never will stop it. These companies will never be able to sue EVERYONE that pirates music. You take away the means of transmission of stolen music, and then it would stop in a day. Anybody here still hear anything about Limewire?? As far as I know, they are gone. I know winMX had started up again, but it was a shadow of its former self. Harrington said that many of the programs that allow file sharing are overseas. Well, we need to work with the countries that are hosting these programs, either to disconnect America from these networks, or to close them down. If we can co-ordinate wars with other countries, I am sure our government can work with other countries to stop this problem, and give OUR people a break from all this uncertainty and nonsense where it comes to running a karaoke show.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I didn't do the audit.. just bought the 12,000 song hard drive to get certified because I knew I had quite a bit of 'blank' areas in my library. But he (Greg) never asked me if I had SGB (I do).... we did talk about all the manu's that I have though... he didn't comment on any of them.



Smooth, you are correct.. it would be good to shut down the illegal download sites. I like that they are going after illegal KJ's now though. The full hard drives for sale out there is astonishing. They just keep getting copied and copied. They aren't all being downloaded. Once there is one hard drive full of all the manu's ...every song every manu made.. it just gets duplicated and sold over and over again. Physical hard drives, not downloaded.

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

China could crack down on pirates but they won't because of the revenue the government gets, and yes they get it and they protect the pirates.

International laws are only as good as the countries who enforce them. Countries that harbour pirates will not allow a LEO from another country to go in and arrest pirates. So they do the next best thing, go after the distributors and users in their own countries.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I am not saying to arrest foreign pirates. That is not our business. I mean working with their government to put up a wall against their programs. China does that with certain things they don't want their people involved in, like myspace. They block it countrywide. There is no reason why they can't do that for America.

And yes, of course go after those who SELL illegal hard drives in this country. So with blocking the programs that allow file sharing, and arresting those that are making and selling pre-loaded hard drives will cut down drastically on the problem. Going after people who are just trying to make a LEGAL living is wrong. Unless you hire enough inspectors to canvas huge chunks of the country, all at once, you will never get all the pirates out there. You prosecute one, ten more crop up. These companies NEED to find a better way, or they should just stop bothering. Nobody in my area knows any of this is going on. I spoke with a friend of mine, who IS legal as he runs only discs (not very computer savvy, by his own admission), and who knows a lot of guys in the area. Nobody knows what is going on,or that what they are doing is illegal. Most wouldn't even care because they don't believe that they could get caught. Quite a few have been running computerized for YEARS, never been caught. This is why i say that the current system is NOT working. And you don't think that in areas where the companies have already been, new people haven't cropped up in different venues? Then you have the list of people who have gotten certified. It's such a tiny list, in comparison to the world outside. This problem WILL continue, regardless, unless the companies change.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Smooth... watch it.. you said "going after people trying to make a living is wrong".. You're gonna get jumped in here if you don't add 'legally' in there!!

people selling the hard drives are trying to make a living

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SoundChoice Certification coming soon!

Exactly stealing is stealing. Make a living legally, not by stealing or by using stolen goods. That goes in any industry, just because it's music doesn't give them a free pass at not getting prosecuted.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

You know what I mean. Drug dealers are trying to make a living, but I don't consider them because they aren't legal. When I say trying to make a living I MEAN legal people.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Ok, this is the scoop per David Grimes at 800-347-5504. If you have the original SGB CD's it's alright to media shift at 1:1 for shows, but cannot be used in any way for any recordings... The songs that they could get licence aggrements for are remastered and in the CB12000 now under CB trademark...

Jon

Is that without certification, because I have the original SGB set, and I want to computerize it.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

That reminds me of the line in the movie The Outlaw Josie Wells, (Bounty hunter) "Well a mans got to make a livin'", (Josie) "Dying ain't much of a livin"... So in this case, "Jail time ain't much of a living" would fit...

Jon

You don't need to be CB certified, just have the original CD's. Are you sure your CD's arn't bootleg? Alot are that are coming off of Ebay...

Jon