Only days after NBCU and News Corp. announced that they were going to call their online video joint venture Hulu, website "Lulu" announced today it is filing a trademark infringement lawsuit against Hulu in the U.S. District Court in Raleigh, NC, which is where Lulu is based, reports CNNMoney.
In a statement about the filing of the complaint, Lulu said that Hulu "as a result of their recent name and internet domain announcements, have intentionally attempted to create confusion in the marketplace. Hulu, in name, as a mark and in their business as a digital content distribution platform, represents a definitive encroachment. In addition to the conflict in business for digital video, Hulu’s trademark filing, filed on August 22, 2007, identifies various products and services, many of which are related to, and even identical to, the services that Lulu provides under its Lulu marks."
Said Lulu CEO Bob Young in the statement: "[We have] spent more than five years and tens of millions of dollars in investment successfully building the Lulu brand and website into a place for millions of creators and consumers to publish, buy, sell and manage digital content. It is clear we are required to move quickly to protect our intellectual property and defend ourselves against this infringement before it significantly damages our business."
