In Snap, Inc. v. Vidal, the Central District of California found the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) was wrong in finding that SnapChat’s SPECTACLES mark is generic for smart glasses. The district court’s opinion...more
The Ninth Circuit issued two opinions in BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP v. Central Coast Agriculture, Inc. finding judicial power over pending trademark applications and an exception shielding trademark registrations for marks used...more
6/11/2024
/ Brand ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Counterclaims ,
Judicial Review ,
Lanham Act ,
Tobacco ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Cancellation ,
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
USPTO
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vidal v. Elster this week, which asks whether refusing to register a trademark that criticizes President Trump violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It seems the...more
On September 29, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, a case that should resolve a split among the U.S. Courts of Appeal relating to the scope of damages available to copyright...more
10/12/2023
/ Cause of Action Accrual ,
Certiorari ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Damages ,
Discovery ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
SCOTUS ,
Sound Recording Copyrights ,
Split of Authority ,
Statute of Limitations ,
The Copyright Act
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and will review the Federal Circuit’s opinion that Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional as applied to a trademark for the term TRUMP TOO SMALL. The TRUMP TOO SMALL trademark...more
In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit approved the use of “Copyrightability Hearings.” Not sure what that means? Read on to find out....more
During the 2016 presidential primaries, then presidential candidates Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio exchanged insults, with Trump calling Rubio “Little Marco” and Rubio commenting on the size of Trumps hands.
Recently,...more
4/21/2022
/ Donald Trump ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Name and Likeness ,
Public Figures ,
Right of Publicity ,
Right to Privacy ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an Australian cosmetic company is subject to the personal jurisdiction of a federal district court in California despite having no traditional “minimum...more
9/10/2021
/ Appeals ,
Australia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Due Process ,
Facebook ,
False Designation of Origin ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Foreign Entities ,
Instagram ,
Internet Marketing ,
Marketing ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Reversal ,
Social Networks ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
Websites
On April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Google v. Oracle, ruling 6-2 in Google’s favor on the issue of fair use. So ends a decade-plus battle between two tech giants that many viewed as having the potential...more
4/19/2021
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Google ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Java ,
Oracle ,
Oracle v Google ,
SCOTUS ,
Transformative Use
In December 2020, Taylor Swift released her ninth studio album, Evermore. The album came as somewhat of a surprise, following the release of her eighth album, Folklore, by only 5 months. Evermore sold over 1 million copies in...more
On October 7, 2020, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Google v. Oracle, a decade-long battle challenging Oracle’s claim to own copyrights in certain aspects of its Java software platform that Google implemented in Android...more
10/22/2020
/ Certiorari ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Use ,
Google LLC v Oracle America Inc ,
Java ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Software ,
Source Code
On August 7, 2020, Google and Oracle submitted their final written arguments to the Supreme Court regarding their decade-long copyright battle over the source code animating the Android platform. Now, we focus on the second...more
9/15/2020
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Google ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Oracle ,
Oracle v Google ,
Popular ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Software Developers
A lot has happened since we last checked in on the Corn Syrup battle between the parent companies of Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split opinion, issued an intervening...more
In our prior post, we introduced the controversy at the center of “the copyright lawsuit of the decade” between Google and Oracle. Since then, both parties and 61 amici have submitted their briefs to the Supreme Court. This...more
3/18/2020
/ Android ,
APIs ,
Coding ,
Computer Programmers ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Google ,
Java ,
Oracle ,
Oracle v Google ,
Oral Argument ,
Software
On November 15, 2019, the Supreme Court granted cert in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. For many observers, this was a long time coming; the parties have been litigating the underlying case since August 2010, and from its...more
12/23/2019
/ Android ,
Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Copyright ,
Fair Use ,
Functionality ,
Google ,
Oracle ,
Popular ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Smartphones ,
Software ,
Source Code ,
The Copyright Act ,
Transformative Use
In 2005, Christian Faith Fellowship Church, a Chicago-based church group, filed two trademark applications for the mark ADD A ZERO for use on clothing, including shirts and caps that they later sold to raise money for...more
11/22/2019
/ Abandonment ,
Adidas ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Cancellation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Use in Commerce
Two recent decisions from the Western District of North Carolina in Winestore Holdings LLC v. Justin Vineyards & Winery LLC provide a tasting of the requirements for bringing a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement...more
Anyone who saw the Special Delivery commercial during the Super Bowl is familiar with Bud Light’s “No Corn Syrup” campaign. The Special Delivery commercial made it pretty clear that Miller Light and Coors Light are brewed...more
In 2016, SportFuel sued PepsiCo for using their registered trademark “SPORTFUEL” in a slogan used to advertise Gatorade products. SportFuel is a personalized nutrition consulting firm in Chicago. ...more