Monthly Archives: March 2014

Deference to the PTO’s acceptance of a specimen and tacking

Posted on March 10, 2014 by rtushnet

Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc. v. Handi-Foil Corp., 2014 WL 794277, No. 13-cv-214 (E.D. Va. Feb. 27, 2014) Reynolds sued Handi-Foil, its competitor in the market for aluminum foil, for trade dress infringement and false advertising.  Here, the court rejects Handi-Foil’s … Continue reading →

Posted in damages, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, remedies, trademark | Leave a comment

What makes a fee-worthy dilution claim?

Posted on March 10, 2014 by rtushnet

General Steel Domestic Sales, LLC v. Chumley, 2014 WL 793090,  No. 10-cv-01398 (D. Colo. Feb. 27, 2014) Some of the more recent opinions from this hard-fought case in which plaintiff won its false advertising claims but lost trademark claims.  We … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer protection, dilution, fees, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trademark | Leave a comment

Securities law and advertising law

Posted on March 10, 2014 by rtushnet

Ann Lipton (Duke) has a post up on the import of Halliburton II, a securities case about the fraud on the market doctrine, with at least potential relevance to advertising law.   Another of her posts considers the securities law … Continue reading →

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Glass houses: incidental use of sculpture in photo is fair

Posted on March 7, 2014 by rtushnet

Neri v. Monroe, No. 11-cv-429 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 26, 2014) (magistrate judge), on remand from 726 F. 3d 989 (7th Cir. 2013) From the outside, this doubtless expensive dispute looks like it resulted from an artist whose outrage over a … Continue reading →

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Reading list: Copyright equality

Posted on March 7, 2014 by rtushnet

Peter DiCola, Copyright Equality: Free Speech, Efficiency, and Regulatory Parity in Distribution. Abstract: Copyright law treats webcasters like Pandora, on-demand streaming services like Spotify, the satellite radio company Sirius XM, and traditional radio broadcasters like Clear Channel in vastly different … Continue reading →

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Class action objection in the form of a dialogue

Posted on March 6, 2014 by rtushnet

Sample (footnotes omitted): CytoSport has agreed to donate whatever is left over to charitable athletic events, like Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure.Class Member. That’s nice of them. Are they funding the costs of running the event?Counsel: No, they … Continue reading →

Posted in california, class actions, consumer protection, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

Topside Pom Wonderful briefs

Posted on March 6, 2014 by rtushnet

I was unfortunately unable to work on an amicus brief in Pom Wonderful, but the good news is that INTA did participate. Petitioner’s brief. Generic Pharmaceutical Association (in support of neither party). INTA. United States (in support of neither party). … Continue reading →

Posted in fda, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, preemption | Leave a comment

Oscar selfies and bad copyright analysis

Posted on March 6, 2014 by rtushnet

Paul Fakler points out that a number of things I’ve also seen said about copyright in Oscar selfies aren’t true.  This one got me the most: Per­haps the most silly “analy­sis” I have seen so far has been the sug­ges­tion … Continue reading →

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Slate on the branding of spelling (or the spelling of branding)

Posted on March 5, 2014 by rtushnet

Marketers address unusual and downright awful grammar and spelling choices in brand names.  Strange spelling may sometimes help memorability, a desired brand feature, but the law ignores bad spelling. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Posted in advertising, trademark | Leave a comment

ABA call-in tomorrow: Lanham Act developments for antitrust lawyers

Posted on March 5, 2014 by rtushnet

Antitrust, Unfair Competition, & the Lanham Act: Recent Intersections in Litigation March 6, 2014—1:30 pm to 2:30 pm Eastern With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to decide whether antitrust standing should apply to Lanham Act claims in the Static Control … Continue reading →

Posted in antitrust, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment