Trademark Dilution

Posner won’t butter up Dairy Maiden: In trademark dilution, fame isn’t everything (Best of 2016)

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Originally published on March 6, 2016. There is a puzzling aspect to much of what emits from U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner, he of the “strange new respect” earned on certain issues not (usually) germane to this blog.  But his expression of puzzlement in Hugunin v. Land O’ Lakes, Inc. (full opinion here), while impossibly coy, has done a great service in drawing the limits on just how far fame will and won’t get “enforcement” efforts…

Written by:
Ron Coleman

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Posted on Section 2(a)

Slant on The Slants

Everybody can have an IP blog.  But hardly anybody, it seems, is prepared to do the work required to blog. I refer now to the decision in The Slants case, which has been covered by various news outlets and a number of trademark-related blogs.  To be honest, I … don’t really have time to read blogs, and I don’t.  (With one exception, mainly; see below.)  But The Slants do, and they send me links to... Read more

Matthew David Brozik
Posted on Costumes and Clothing Fashion Law

Louboutin gets the boot

In a case that has everyone seeing red — No, let me start over. And without the jokes. Because in a decision in Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent America, Inc. — a case about colored outsoles of high-end ladies’ footwear — the Honorable Victor Marrero of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York made nearly every color, foot, and/or shoe pun imaginable, and I don’t want to step on... Read more

Posted on Free Expression

Scientology Cult Returns to its IP-Abusive Ways

Long Island (New York’s) Newsday newspaper reports that the wackos at Scientology have tried to shut down a website called Scientomogy.com which mocks the cult’s name along with cult member and platinum wacko Tom Cruise. According to the story, the Scientologists also sent a letter to another critical site, Truth About Scientology. The U.S. Courts have long been handmaidens at assisting cults such as Scientology and wacko religions such as Jews for Jesus use the... Read more

Posted on Law Practice and Profession

“Go Home”: Why law school was probably a bad idea

Oddly enough, I got a “request” for an article I once wrote in Student Lawyer magazine in a comment here. The point of the article was that most people probably shouldn’t go to to law school.  That was an attitude which — when it came across between the lines in my book The Princeton Review Pre-Law Companion — didn’t exactly help sales to people who wanted to know “how,” not “if.” I wrote the article in 1995. You can... Read more

Posted on Trademarks and trademark law

The entrepreneurship of trademark bullying

I figured I must have written somewhere about that PTO trademark bullying thing — or if I didn’t, I am sure I linked to someone who did — well, I thought I did. But finally, I really did.  And I was reminded of it when I read a press release including this interesting comment from one Scott Smith.  It also links to this article about Entrepreneur magazine’s own trademark adventures in attempting to secure ownership... Read more

Posted on Counterfeiting & Piracy

Poor eBay!

News item: eBay Beats The Street; Revenue Up 16 Percent To $2.5B; Net Income Up 12 Percent eBay just reported first quarter earnings today posting revenue of $2.5 billion, an increase of 16% from the same period of 2010. eBay’s net income on a GAAP basis of $475.9 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $619.0 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, representing a 12% increase compared to the same period of 2010.... Read more

Posted on Distribution systems

Guest Post: Fair Use or Foul Ball?

  When copying 20,000,000 books without permission is not copyright infringement Jim Bouton’s last pitch to Google wasn’t Ball Four, at least according to the umps of the Second Circuit who decided — after replay — that the digital giant had smacked the pitcher-turned-author’s hanging slider more than 330′ directly  over the foul pole boundary of the short porch in right. In The Author’s Guild v. Google Inc., a three judge panel of the Second... Read more

Posted on Uncategorized

The circle of life

When it comes to legal blogging, there seems to be no shortage of writing worth reading once one gets around to it. What’s that? You have no round tuit? My friend, you are fortunate indeed, for never before in human history have round tuits been so readily available. If you need one, Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. has them in stock. Why pay retail, though, when Colin Samuels will give you a Round Tuit free!  If you read all... Read more

Posted on Rights of Publicity and Personality

“Life rights”? (Making things with life?)

Pittsburgh Trademark Lawyer Daniel Corbett brings us an NBA star’s attempt at a four-point shot: Post-relationship drama takes many forms, but federal court litigation under the Lanham Act isn’t typically one of them– unless you’re Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh.  Bosh recently filed suit against the producer of VH1′s “Basketball Wives,” which, as Bosh correctly notes, comprises about as many ex-wives and/or girlfriends as it does “basketball wives” in the term’s purest sense. At any rate,... Read more