The Ninth Circuit Comes Through
It rejects the stupid and unconstitutional argument that “commercial use” under the Lanham Act’s dilution provisions can be found where there is simply “diversion.” Originally posted... Read more
Tag: Trademarks and trademark law
Second Circuit and the whole of the law on confusion
This is big, but stay calm. Though I hardly can. I took some heat a little while ago for suggesting, contrary to my generally skeptical... Read more
The only unmentionable trademark?
We alluded to this story in an earlier post. Evidently Daman Wayans’s attempt to file a trademark application for the word “Nigga” continues to hit... Read more
Locking it down
Every lawyer who practices in the intellectual property area is asked frequently how to go about protecting a unique or creative idea that someone fears... Read more
Trademark rights in interdigitization
Nick Daly drops me a note to the effect that one Jay-Z, gazillionaire rhyming scatologist, has been sued by a professional perspirer and leaping stage... Read more
This Isn’t One, Either. Heavens, No.
Bill Heinze’s I/P Updates blog reports about a trademark registration you can see at the erstwhile movie pirating website LokiTorrent.com. You get a message that... Read more
Trademarks, copyright, brand equity, and rent-seeking: Soapbox 2010
From last week’s INTA Trademark Topics email discussion list. One name has been changed to protect the innocent, and the links, by way of annotation,... Read more
More fantasy sports litigation
We wrote in the past about the bogus “right of publicity” issue and the unsuccessful attempt by major league sports to claim ownership in statistics... Read more
On the wrong track, as usual
Jews for Jesus, the sleazy, misleading missionaries who crawl over Manhattan each summer, had to back off from their use of the MTA’s world-famous symbols.... Read more
New law of trademark dilution
My old friends at Kaye Scholer (link fixed!) give you the skinny on the new Trademark Dilution Act. Bottom line: Good for big companies. Not so... Read more
Kissing trademark rights goodbye?
Eric Johnson‘s Pixelization blog has a sweet insight into a sticky trademark mess that Hershey’s could be, theoretically, getting itself into: It’s a Hershey’s-brand three-compartment... Read more
Bag It
Remember Vuitton v. Dooney? It’s over. Reports the Shiny Style blog: A judge ruled in favor of Dooney & Bourke in the trademark dispute involving... Read more
Drive-by infringement
Steve Baird says initial interest confusion is “the real thing” and in the process seeks to “add life” to Professor McCarthy’s famous “evil highway road sign”... Read more
Through WINDOWS®, darkly
Mr. Thorne, legal marketing wordsmith extraordinaire, wonders: Why would a court opinion use the magic ® symbol to refer to one registered trademark and not... Read more