Health and the City in the NY Post!

CATFIGHT WITH 'SEX & CITY'
FEISTY GAL'S TRADEMARK BATTLE
By KATI CORNELL

BRING IT ON: Fitness trainer Jennifer Cassetta is kicking into gear for a legal showdown with HBO over the name of her business, Health and the City.
November 15, 2007 -- She's sexy and calls her business "Health and the City," but a martial- arts trainer who works to turn stressed-out New Yorkers into urban warri ors is ready to take on Go liath to prove she's no Carrie Bradshaw wannabe.

VIDEO: Catfight With 'Sex and the City' Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YearLVl41DU

When Jennifer Cas setta found her call ing coaching urban ites on fitness and nutrition - and came up with a catchy Web do main to match last year - she had no idea she'd be facing more agita than her average client in the form a trade mark battle with HBO.

Cassetta, 31, said she was shocked to learn the entertain ment giant had thrown down the gauntlet in June, accusing her of trying to ride the coattails of the wildly popular show "Sex and the City."

"I'm not selling whatever they sell. I'm not doing a movie about sex and Carrie Bradshaw," Cassetta told The Post yesterday as she braces for HBO's Nov. 18 deadline to file its formal opposition to her trademark application.

"I thought it was a catchy phrase, with the main theme of what I'm trying to do. My clients know that. They have a hard time staying healthy in the city," Cassetta said.

Cassetta teaches and maintains an office at the World Martial Arts Center on West 14th Street and uses her site healthandthecity.net to advertise her services to "overstressed and overworked people who have put their health on the side."

In an effort to avoid an expensive legal battle, Cassetta said she entered discussions with an HBO lawyer who gave her two options - change the name to "Health in the City" or withdraw her application for the trademark altogether.

"I asked, 'Why would I do that?' I'm supposed to roll over and die because I'm afraid of HBO?" said Cassetta, who has already paid $484 for the trademark-application fee and explained that the alternate name already is owned and could cost her more than $10,000.

" 'In' or 'and,' I didn't think it was that much of a difference," Cassetta said. "I think it's unfair. They know I'm a small-business owner and I don't have the money to fight them."

Asked whether HBO intends to file the formal opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office, HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson said, "We just don't discuss legal issues in the press."

HBO routinely challenges trademark applications that contain the words "and the city."

To watch the video, go to www.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YearLVl41DU

Health and the City on Gawker.com

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my friend, alerting me that I was on Gawker.com this morning. Check it out.........

Cut and paste into your browswer:
http://gawker.com/news/the-law-comes-to-town/sex-inand-the-city-the-lawsuit-315179.php

Interview on NPR regarding trademark dispute

Hi! Here is the link for my interview on NPR today. Take a listen!

Click the title or cut and paste into your browser http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15627428&sc=emaf

Wall Street Journal and Health and the City

Here is the link to the law blog for the Wall Street Journal Online.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/10/22/a-trademark-dispute-the-city/

Cut and paste into your browswer.

Health and the City Trademark Dispute with HBO

So, in case you haven't heard, I am in the midst of a trademark dispute with HBO over my company's name, Health and the City.

I have been written up in the Wall Street Journal, on the WSJ law blog, and had an interview today on NPR. Pretty exciting stuff.

However, what's not exciting is how this all started. A year ago I applied for a trademark. Over the summer I found out through postcards from the USPTO that HBO was delaying the process by extending the time to oppose my application. I was contacted by their lawyers and was asked to withdraw my application or to change my name to Health In the City. This would cost me thousands of dollars, so I declined. HBO has until November 18th to oppose my trademark. If they do, I will have to go through litigation and the final decision will be up to a judge.

Anybody can clearly see that my company has nothing to do with Carrie Bradshaw screwing up her relationships or Samantha sleeping with half of the city.

This is clearly a case of a small business owner getting bullied around on the playground of Corporate America. HBO is sending out a sign to their demographic that they don't want to see a young woman get ahead. They would rather give her a hard time, because they can.

With their new movie coming out I think this is truly a poor decision on their part. I currently have the support of many members of a large women's networking organization called Ladies Who Launch.

People, do you know what can happen when you put a large number of powerful women behind a movement?

Let's see.........