The International Football Association, soccer’s governing body, has warned PepsiCo Inc. that its potentially infringing the group’s trademark rights.  The Zurich-based Federation Internationale de Football Association, commonly known as FIFA, objected to a question Pepsi placed on a Chinese web site in April that made reference to the World Cup.  In a cease-and-desist letter, counsel for FIFA told Pepsi such references are “misleading” and demanded both that it be removed and that Pepsi issue an apology.  FIFA has already more than 3,000 cases involving trademark infringements or unauthorized attempts to piggyback marketing to Word Cup promotions.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 will start June 11 in South Africa.

Ruling against Microsoft, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday confirmed a patent held by Toronto-based i4i.  The tiny Canadian company had taken the software giant to court in 2007 over violations of its patent in Word applications and won the case and got $290 million in damages last December. The U.S. Court of Appeal had upheld a lower court order banning Microsoft from selling its patent-infringing Word processing software from January 11. the patent pertains to use of technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language.  The Canadian company had said Microsoft stole its technology when it created Word 2003 and 2007. The so called “449 patent” was developed by Michel Vulpe, founder of i4i.

Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, filed another patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple, this time over iPad.  The lawsuit, the fifth patent complaint between the two companies in the past year, broadens the fight to include Apple’s iPad touch-screen computer tablet. Nokia filled its law suit today in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin.  This recent battle between these industry giants helped push Apple shares down as much as 8.5% in New York trading, their steepest drop since October 2008. In the three years since iPhone was introduced, Apple has sized Nokia’s position as the company that defines the high-end smartphone market. The five patents in the newest complaint relate to enhance speech and data transmission, and antenna configurations that improve performance and ads space.  The patents are not the same ones at issue in prior cases between the two companies. Nokia is currently battling Apple in a different law suit accusing Apple of infringing 10 patents, demanding royalties on more than 51 million iPhones sold since 2007.

Lets review the latest legal skirmish between industry giants,  the world’s largest cell phone maker (Nokia) is suing the world’s largest smartphone maker (Apple) who is counter-suing Nokia and also suing the world’s faster growing smartphone operating system designer (HTC).   The future seems very litigious.

Absolut Vodka has reached a settlement in its long-running battle against UK station Absolute Radio over alleged trademark infringement. The decision brought an end to 18 months of legal proceedings between Absolute Radio’s owners, the Times of India Group, and Absolut’s owners V&S Vin & Sprit. The terms of the agreement is confidential but allow both companies to continue to trade under the existing names. The feud began when the Times of India Group bought Virgin Radio two years ago and relaunched it as Absolute Radio.  The vodka brand issued a writ soon after claiming there had been an infringement of its trademark and that there was a risk of confusion between the two companies. Both parties have expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the case and issued statements declaring it would allow them to built on their respective brand’s standing and status.

Building on a four century tradition of producing vodka at Ahus, Absolut Vodka was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith.  Absolut is the third largest brand of alcoholic spirits in the world after Bacardi and Smirnoff, marketed in 126 countries. The largest export of Absolut is the United States where close to 73 million liters were sold in 2003.  More than 40% of the imported vodka in the United States is Absolut.

Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC has singed a patent-sharing deal with Microsoft, allowing the company to use Microsoft technology in its Android-based smartphones. The deal, worth an undisclosed sum, will allow HTC direct access to the Microsoft patent portfolio in order to make smarter and more consumer-friendly Android-based handsets. A non-disclosure agreement prevents both companies from specifying exactly which Microsoft technologies would be used. Horacio Gutierrez, a corporate Vice President and deputy general counsel in Microsoft’s licensing and intellectual property division, said in a statement that “HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property.

This patent licensing deal comes as HTC prepares to defend itself in a law suit filed by Apple, which accuses HTC of ripping of Apple’s technology in its range of Android-based handsets.

U.K. drug maker Shire PLC has filed a law suit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, alleging that the Israel-based generic drug maker infringed two patents for Shire’s hyperactivity medicine Intuniv.  Intuniv is used to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years. Shire, the U.K.’s third-largest drug company, said its law suit results from an Abbreviated New Drug Application for making copycat versions of Intuniv by Teva, the world’s largest generic drugs maker. Shire’s hyperactivity product, which uses the active ingredient guanfacine, only went on the sale in the U.S. late last year and is protected by three patents, which runs until 2015, 2020 and 2022. Teva’s application refers to just two of those patents.  Alleging Trademark/patent infringement by Shire PLC is the latest one that Teva is facing in the U.S. as Teva is still fighting Pfizer for various patent infringements.

Three months after Kodak sued Apple for patent infringement, Apple has filed a counter-suit that accuses the film and imaging company of violating two of its own digital photography patents. Apple is claiming that several products owned by Kodak like the C, M, and Z series Easyshares cameras and camcorders are using its patent technologies. Apple filed its law suit in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California. Apple is certainly no stranger to courtroom battles, especially for copyright infringements. Apple is currently battling Nokia and HTC for various patent infringements. Similarly, Kodak has lunched suits against other phone makers, including Samsung and LG, in 2008 over the use of camera technology in mobile handsets.

Earlier this week, Nintendo emerged victorious in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals as part of a patent infringement dispute involving Wii and GameCube controllers. On April 2, IA Labs filed a suit against Nintendo in the United States District Court of Maryland claiming that Nintendo has willfully infringed upon IA Labs patents with Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, and the Wii Balance Board, as well as the Wii Remote, Wii Nunchuk, Wii Motion Plus, Wii Wheel and Wii Zapper. Although Nintendo won that law suit against Wii, Wii is filing another patent infringement law suit, this time associated with its tent-pole release in the highly lucrative fitness genre. The fitness technology company claims that the patents have been used in a number of products in the past.  The new products that are part of this suit are Kilowatt Sport and Exer-Station, both of which picked up innovation of the year award at the Consumer Electronics Show, in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Canadian firm WiLAN claims widespread patent infringement for its patented Bluetooth technology.  WiLAN has filed a law suit in the U.S. District Court in Texas yesterday accusing several major companies, including Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, Motorola, Sony Corporation and Toshiba of infringing of its patented Bluetooth technology.  WiLAN is claiming that the vendors have violated the patented technology that stops Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals interfering with each other on mobile phones and laptops.  Legal disputes over patent and trademark infringements have become widespread in the technology industry in recent times, as players big and small tussle over key technologies.  Apple and Nokia are currently in a law suit over alleged patent infringements, while Kodak has filed a complaint against Apple and RIM over alleged patent infringement in digital cameras embedded in phones.

With less than 64 days left to arguably the biggest sporting event in the world, 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA is doing all it can to protect its registered trademark “South Africa 2010.” Official wold Cup sponsors pay millions to be associated with the event and only do this in order to be guaranteed exclusive rights to use FIFA’s official marks on their marketing and promotional material. Consequently FIFA defends its trademarks very vigorously because there is so much revenue  at stake. Two recent cases in South Africa illustrated the aggressive stance FIFA takes with anyone who infringes its rights.

Johannesburg-based FMCG firm Metcash was sued by FIFA when it released a confectionery line under the tile “Astor 2010 Pops” alongside the South African flag and images of footballs.  The court in South Africa ruled in favor of FIFA and ordered the company to cease production and pay all costs. In a second case, a sports bar near Pretoria used the mark “World Cup 2010″ on its exterior signage, alongside the flags of the various qualifying countries.  Again the court ruled in favor of FIFA and forced the bar to remove the images.

This is the case despite the fact that no one owns the rights to the number 2010 or the words South Africa when used in isolation. In Europe, including UK, FIFA has a trademark registration for the phrase “WORLD CUP” 2010. It also owns a UK registration for “WORD CUP” in relation to clothing and footwear.

The World Cup 2010 will start on June 11, 2010, when the host country will take on Mexico in Johannesburg.