He may be one of the robots, but that doesn’t mean Ralf Hutter is impervious to slights, as the makers of charger for electronic device have discovered. Krtaftwerk’s keader has brought a trademark infringement suit against the makers of the charger, which they have named after the German word for power station – which happens to be Kraftwerk.
The makers of the charger, eZelleron, raised more than $1.5m on Kickstarter to develop the portable power plant, which it says takes mere seconds to recharge and can provide weeks of power for mobile devices. However, Hutter owns a wideranging trademark on the Kraftwerk brand name, which – the Hollywood Reporter says – covers “video and optical data in the field of home entertainment”.
Hutter’s complaint reads: “Defendant is taking advance orders for the KRAFTWERK charging device. Therefore, consumers are likely to assume that there is a connection, association, or relationship between the famous electronic Music band and a charger for portable musical-playing devices.”
Although eZelleron is based in Dresden, the case is being heard in Delaware in the US because it is incorporated in Delaware – the US state that is host to many corporations because of its favourable incorporation laws. A 2013 article in the Economist suggested Delaware stood for: “Dollars and Euros Laundered And Washed At Reasonable Expense”.
However, that the case will be heard in the US probably helps Hutter. In the US it is likelier to be far harder for the defendant to argue that the word Kraftwerk is in common usage as a simple description of its product.
