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Young Lawyers Trademark Litigation

Bennett Jones LLP

Kissing Registration Goodbye: Deficient Online Survey Evidence Cannot Save Application for SWISSKISS

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Survey evidence can be used in trademark disputes to establish consumer perception and brand power. A recent Federal Court decision provides guidance on factors that may influence the admissibility of online survey evidence....more

Burns & Levinson LLP

Choosing the Ideal Venue for IP Disputes: Recent Developments in Federal Case Law

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The venue of a lawsuit can be a crucial, even dispositive, decision in managing the strategy of a successful outcome in an IP dispute. Defending a lawsuit on your home turf is often easier than in a distant state – defendants...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Flawed Consumer Survey Wipes Out $54 Million Verdict in Trademark Infringement Dispute

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In trademark infringement cases, consumer survey evidence can be a powerful tool. It can also badly malfunction, as Black & Decker recently experienced. ...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Making Your Mark

10 Trademark Cases About Yo Mama

Anna Jarvis led the efforts to establish the first official celebration of Mother’s Day in 1908, during which she honored her own mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a Civil War-era social activist. But about a dozen years after...more

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC

McNees 2016 In Review – Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents

The year 2016 saw interesting and diverse developments in trademark, copyright, trade secret, and patent law. Not only has intellectual property news been in the headlines, but these areas have made it to the Supreme Court....more

Fenwick & West LLP

Litigation Alert: In Louis Vuitton Trademark Suit, Second Circuit Says Parody Prevails Even if Brand Owner Doesn’t “Get” the Joke

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed the Southern District of New York’s order on summary judgment that My Other Bag’s canvas tote bags do not dilute or infringe Louis Vuitton’s trademarks for...more

Morgan Lewis

An Attempt at Efficiency: A Look at the TTAB’s Upcoming Rule Changes

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The rule changes are aimed at streamlining proceedings before the TTAB. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or the Board) will implement several important rule changes as of January 14, 2017. The changes will...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Acquiescence Defense – Don’t Try to Use It Too Early

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded a district court decision, finding that the defendant’s attempt to have a trademark infringement lawsuit dismissed at the pleading stage based on an...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Second Circuit Re-Visits Dawn Donut and the Geographic Scope of Injunctive Relief in Trademark Cases

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More than half a century ago, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an influential decision in Dawn Donut Co. v. Hart’s Food Stores, Inc., concerning the proper scope of injunctive relief in a trademark...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Is Evidence of Confusion Really Necessary to Succeed in a Trademark Infringement Case?

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It is not every day that a massive international TV hit show is found to infringe a trade mark. A decision of the English High Court, approved recently by the Court of Appeal, held that the popular 20th Century Fox teenage...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Who Should Own a Trademark Registration? The Case of the Not-So-Related Parent Company

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A recent precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision provides valuable guidance on the proper allocation of trademark registration ownership as between a corporate parent and a subsidiary, highlighting the perils...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

What’s That Sound? It Might Just Be a Trademark.

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Trademarks are not only words or logos, but can come in many other forms, including sounds. In the words of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in the case In re Gen. Electric Broad. Co., 199 USPQ 560, 563 (TTAB 1978),...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Federal Judge vs. TTAB – Trademark Battle over Bear Bryant’s Houndstooth Hat

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The case of The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama and Paul W. Bryant, Jr. v. Houndstooth Mafia Enterprises LLC et al. showcases an unusual clash between a federal judge and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board...more

Ladas & Parry LLP

Although Healthy Hemp May do Many Things, It Does Not Function As a Trademark

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In a non-precedential decision in In re French Meadow Organic Bakery LLC, Serial No 86243820 (February 4 2016), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) held that HEALTHY HEMP was merely descriptive of “bakery goods;...more

Pillsbury - Internet & Social Media Law Blog

Rolls-Royce & the Rapper: Social Media Activity Helps Decide a Trademark Tussle

We recently wrote about a musician who got into some trouble with a court by using social media to flaunt images of hundred dollar bills after he had filed for bankruptcy. Now, an Atlanta-based rapper known as Rolls Royce...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

No Room at the USPTO: TTAB Rejects Booking.com Trademarks As Generic

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Many online businesses prefer to use domain names that communicate as clearly and concisely as possible the types of goods and services offered on their websites. That may be good marketing strategy. But as a recent decision...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

The Hound’s-Tooth Bites Back: The Ghost of Paul “Bear” Bryant

Recently, a District Court judge issued a scathing rebuke to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama et al. v. Houndstooth Mafia Enterprises LLC, (N.D. Alabama February...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

An IP Lesson from Bikini Bottom: What SpongeBob Teaches Us about Trademark Licensing and Liability

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It turns out that SpongeBob Squarepants is more than just an absorbent, yellow and porous cartoon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea. He can also teach us an important lesson about trademark licensing and...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Trademark Wars: Fox’s “Empire” Strikes Back

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In another episode involving the First Amendment and the Lanham Act, Twentieth Century Fox’s “Empire” notched a win for the First Amendment. In Twentieth Century Fox Television, et al. v. Empire Distribution Inc. the United...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Thinking of Sending a Cease and Desist Letter? Judge Rakoff Has Some Advice About the Declaratory Judgment Risk

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A recent decision in federal court in New York serves both as a cautionary tale to companies looking to defend their trademarks and an important reminder to any company about to launch a new product under threat of an...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &...

Sue-per Bowl Shuffle II: The Year in NFL-Related Intellectual Property Litigation

Around this time last year, I started worrying about what would happen if someone at a Super Bowl party asked me to explain an NFL-related lawsuit, particularly one of those IP-ish lawsuits that I’m supposed to know about. So...more

Knobbe Martens

2015 IP Law Year In Review

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Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 135 S. Ct. 1920 (May 26, 2015) - ..Does a defendant’s belief that a patent is invalid serve as a defense to charges of inducing infringement? NO - ..Inducement requires...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Black Ops Mission Accomplished by Federal Trademark Registration

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A recent district court decision granting a preliminary injunction in The Brooklyn Brewery Corp. v. Black Ops Brewing, Inc. demonstrates the advantage of owning a federal trademark registration when products bearing the...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Superman, Superdad, and the Limits of a Trademark Parody Defense

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Superman has triumphed yet again, this time with help from the federal court in the Central District of California. It wasn’t actually Superman that scored this particular victory, but DC Comics, owner of the trademark rights...more

WilmerHale

Belmora v. Bayer: Does the Lanham Act Protect An Owner of a Well-Known Foreign Mark From Intentional Misuse of the Mark in the...

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In Belmora LLC v. Bayer Consumer Care AG,1 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is faced with novel issues about the reach of the Lanham Act. The case arose from Bayer’s filing of a petition to cancel Belmora’s...more

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