Hi all, it's nice to be here as a new member.
I hope somebody can offer some advice or at least point me in the right direction. I have to use very loose wording here for obvious commercial reasons, but the facts remain sound and clear below.
To cut a long story short, I own the copyright of a book containing a number of 'predictions about the future', without giving too much away. One such prediction was that a specific one of the world's largest companies will start using a certain slogan in the future.
Lo and behold, the year after the book was published on Amazon and other popular websites, said company introduced a virtually identical slogan. The main and 'clever' or critical part of said slogan is 100% identical to the slogan in the book, and the other less critical half of the slogan 'means the same thing as' the other part of the slogan in the book, although it is worded slightly differently.
E.g. let's say we take Microsoft's slogan and pretend it is: 'Microsoft - where do we want to go today?' - in that case the equivalent of the slogan in the book would be 'Microsoft - where do you and I want to go today?'. That gives you the gist of the similarity of the second half of the entire slogan.
Remember, the first and critical half of the slogan is 100% identical. It's the clever bit, and they have apparently copied it entirely.
Here is a timeline:
1863 - Said company is founded (approximately)
1863-2009 - Said company never uses anything like the slogan in question
2008 - The book is published and made widely available containing the slogan
2009 - Said company introduces a materially identical slogan for the first time in 146 years
As this is a book that contains 'predictions', there's an interesting conundrum.
1) Did the book correctly 'predict the future', or;
2) Did the book 'change the future' and 'make it so' when said company's advertising team read it?
The book itself was also - for a limited time - made available to read 'free of charge' on website, with a Copyright notice clearly displayed at the bottom of each page.
My question is simple - is there a precedent for whether, as the copyright owner of the book that predated the company's use of said materially identical slogan, I hold a legitimate claim to the slogan the company has now started to use for the first time in 146 years?
Thanks in advance.
lucylawless
California, USA

