On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., limited the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act. The majority opinion was written by Justice Alito and joined by Justices...more
In Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, the Supreme Court unanimously held that social media companies are not liable for aiding and abetting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in its terrorist acts that victims claimed resulted...more
On March 31, 2023, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., where at issue is whether the Tenth Circuit erred in applying the Lanham Act extraterritorially to Abitron’s...more
In Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., Oklahoma-based Hetronic, maker of radio remote controls for heavy-duty construction equipment, sued its former distributor Abitron (from Austria) for selling copycat...more
4/17/2023
/ Abitron Austria GmbH v Hetronic International Inc ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Sales ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Oral Argument ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
On March 25, 2022, the Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Andy Warhol’s “Prince Series” sufficiently transforms Lynn Goldsmith’s 1981 photograph of Prince (the “Photograph”) to qualify for the Copyright Act’s fair use...more
4/7/2022
/ Certiorari ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Fine Art ,
First Amendment ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Personal Expression ,
SCOTUS ,
Transformative Use
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court (the “Court”), in an 8-1 decision, affirmed the Fourth Circuit’s holding that “BOOKING.COM” is a protectable trademark, thereby rejecting a sweeping rule that a protectable trademark...more
7/8/2020
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Appeals ,
Booking.com ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Generic Marks ,
Lanham Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
USPTO
On May 14, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held in Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc., et al. v. Marcel Fashion Group Inc., that a party is not precluded from raising new defenses, when a subsequent lawsuit between the same...more
5/19/2020
/ Claim Preclusion ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Counterclaims ,
Defense Preclusion ,
Fashion Branding ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Lucky Brand Dungarees v Marcel Fashion Group ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Release Agreements ,
Res Judicata ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Subsequent Litigation ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
The Lanham Act (“Act”) makes it clear that generic terms cannot be registered as trademarks. But can an online business create a protectable trademark by adding a generic top-level domain (e.g., “.com”) to an otherwise...more
5/15/2020
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Appeals ,
Booking.com ,
Certiorari ,
Descriptive Trademarks ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Generic Marks ,
gTLD ,
Lanham Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
USPTO
On April 27, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held, in Georgia et al. v. Public.Resource.Org., Inc., in a 5-4 decision, that copyright law does not protect annotations contained in the official annotated compilation of...more
5/6/2020
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Government Edicts Doctrine ,
Legislative Duties ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Code ,
The Copyright Act
On April 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Group, Inc., FKA Fossil, Inc., et al., that under the Lanham Act, a plaintiff is not required to show that a defendant willfully...more
5/3/2020
/ § 1125(a) ,
§ 1125(c) ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Compensatory Awards ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Lost Profits ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Vacated ,
Willful Infringement
On March 23, 2020, in Allen v. Cooper, the Supreme Court held that Allen, who spent over two decades, photographing the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, better known as the flagship for the pirate Blackbeard, cannot sue the...more
4/2/2020
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Authors ,
Certiorari ,
Congressional Intent ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
On March 23, 2020, in Allen v. Cooper, the Supreme Court held that Allen, who spent over two decades, photographing the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, better known as the flagship for the pirate Blackbeard, cannot sue the...more
4/1/2020
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Authors ,
Certiorari ,
Congressional Intent ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
The American Bar Association (“ABA”) filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of the petitioner in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., No. 18-1233....more
12/5/2019
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Amicus Briefs ,
Intellectual Property Owners Association ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Trademark Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Ownership Rules ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Profits ,
Public Policy ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Statutory Violations ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil Inc., et al., No. 18-1233. As set forth in our previous blog post, Romag Fasteners Inc. (“Romag”) seeks to have the Court...more
11/22/2019
/ Certiorari ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Profits ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc., et al. v. Marcel Fashion Group Inc., No. 18-1086. As set forth in our prior blog posts, Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc. and related...more
10/29/2019
/ Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Defense Strategies ,
Fashion Industry ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Inherently Distinctive ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Release Agreements ,
Res Judicata ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877. The case presents a question “whether Congress validly abrogated state sovereign immunity via the Copyright Remedy...more
9/11/2019
/ Abrogation ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Authors ,
Certiorari ,
Congressional Intent ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity
On Friday, June 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether, in cases where a plaintiff asserts new claims, federal preclusion principles bar a defendant from raising defenses that were not actually litigated...more
7/9/2019
/ Amended Complaints ,
Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Claim Preclusion ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Lanham Act ,
Res Judicata ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition
On Friday, June 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide the circumstances necessary to support an award of a trademark infringer’s profits under section 35 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a). Romag Fasteners...more
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether states can claim copyright protection in annotated codes. State of Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., No. 18-1150. ...more
6/28/2019
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Certiorari ,
Copyright ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Public Domain ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act