Fired up over name
It seems the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is not too happy with another, somewhat homonymous ceremony.
The academy filed a petition last August with the appeal board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeking to have the trademark for “Hackademy Awards” revoked. Those annual awards are given out by Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, a nonprofit group that promotes clean air and a tobacco-free environment. “We have no opinion whatsoever on what they’re doing, merely the phrase they’re using,” said Leslie Unger, the academy’s director of communications. “We can’t allow that to become confused with this organization in any way.” Kori Titus, the Breathe California chapter’s deputy director, doesn’t think anyone would confuse the two. Her group is now in the process of putting together evidence for the appeal.
The dispute didn’t have an effect on Breathe California’s awards ceremony Wednesday night. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” got a thumbs down for its 100 or so incidents of cigarette smoking, as compiled by the group’s panel of young reviewers (and a few adults). The big Thumbs Up! winner was “What Happens in Vegas,” a romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. It had no smoking in it whatsoever.
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