In 2012, there were a number of disputes relating “parodying trademark,
by which the legal principle states that the parodying trademark is the adaptation
of and change in the composition used the trademark such as format, alphabet,
name, color, or picture for the purpose of parodying, by displaying humor,
amusement, entertainment, critique, and comment about the trademark.
However, there have been the important legal issues leading to the disputes:
the making of parody trademark has been given legal recognition, to what extent
the parody is recognized by law and in what nature it is recognized. Besides,
in 2012, in United States, there exists an interesting case concerning the parodying the trademark of mobile company “BLACKBERRY” by “CRACKBERRY”.
Another case is PRL USA Holdings Inc. v Thread Pit Inc. which is parodying the
logo affixed on the Polo Shirt displaying the polo player riding the horse by the
polo player falling from the horse. Moreover, in Thailand, in 2012, the “Starbucks
company required a coffee shop to change their mark "Starbung" by claiming
that the mark “Starbung” is a trademark infringement on “Starbucks”. In addition,
the company "Starbucks" also had disputes in many countries including United
States, in the case of Starbucks Corp v. Wolfe's Borough Coffee Inc, which
the defendant used the mark "Mister Charbucks". Therefore, it is valuable to
study and analyze on the parodying trademark, in the legal principle, international
agreement, provision and court's decision in United States and Thailand
for comparative purpose.