Monthly Archives: April 2016

When is confusion unlikely for purposes of a motion to dismiss?

Posted on April 22, 2016 by rtushnet

Nutter’s IP Law Bulletin covers Southgate v. Soundspark, Inc., No. 14-CV-13861-ADB, 2016 WL 1268253 (D. Mass. Mar. 31, 2016), in which the court found confusion implausible on the pleadings based on a description of the parties’ businesses.  Although Southgate had … Continue reading →

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District court still rejects contribution/contributory false advertising for supplier

Posted on April 21, 2016 by rtushnet

Nestlé Purina Petcare Co. v. Blue Buffalo Co., No. 4:14 CV 859, 2016 WL 1579195 (E.D. Mo. Apr. 19, 2016)   Previous ruling on ad agency’s potential liability for helping create allegedly false ads.  Blue Buffalo also sought contribution from … Continue reading →

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All transformative from here: 2013 case about music in reality film

Posted on April 20, 2016 by rtushnet

Threshold Media Corp. v. Relativity Media, LLC, No. CV 10-09318, 2013 WL 11287701 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 15, 2013)   Older case that just popped up in my Westclip search; blogging because it’s still interesting after three years.  Threshold sued Relativity … Continue reading →

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Minimal pleading of responsibility suffices to evade 230 dismissal

Posted on April 19, 2016 by rtushnet

Congoo, LLC v. Revcontent LLC, 2016 WL 1547171, No. 16-401 (D.N.J. Apr. 15, 2016)   The parties compete in the market for native advertising.  Congoo alleged that Revcontent caused false/misleading native advertising to be published.  Revcontent asserted §230 immunity.  The … Continue reading →

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Student IP writing competition from the Virginia Bar

Posted on April 19, 2016 by rtushnet

Intellectual Property Section Intellectual Property Law Student Writing Competition For more than 40 years, the Intellectual Property Section of the Virginia State Bar has striven to advance the quality of intellectual law practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Intellectual … Continue reading →

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Expert testimony in false advertising cases can rely on studies of other events

Posted on April 18, 2016 by rtushnet

Concordia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Method Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 2016 WL 1464639, No. 3:14CV00016 (W.D. Va. Apr. 13, 2016)   Previous opinion on how announcing a product launch and not following up might be false advertising discussed here.  Here, the court resolves … Continue reading →

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Further results from my FOIA case against ICE

Posted on April 8, 2016 by rtushnet

With the assistance of Georgetown’s Institute for Public Representation, I sued ICE to get it to answer some questions about why its representative claimed that “X sucks” merchandise would infringe X’s trademark rights, at least where X is a sports … Continue reading →

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Comments on section 512 from the OTW and a few others

Posted on April 8, 2016 by rtushnet

The Copyright Office has posted the responses to its notice of inquiry on 512.  Here’s the Organization for Transformative Works comment on 512.  Also, among the 90,000+ responses, there are comments from Eric Goldman, and a comment based on the … Continue reading →

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announcing product launch and pricing can be false advertising if no launch occurs

Posted on April 7, 2016 by rtushnet

Concordia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Method Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 2016 WL 1271082, No. 3:14CV00016 (W.D. Va. Mar. 29, 2016)   Concordia bought the Donnatal line of pharmaceutical products from former plaintiff PBM. Donnatal is a prescription line of combination phenobarbital and belladonna … Continue reading →

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“Excessive use of professional reviewers” might be false advertising

Posted on April 7, 2016 by rtushnet

Interlink Products Int’l, Inc. v. F & W Trading LLC, No. 15-1340, 2016 WL 1260713 (D.N.J. Mar. 31, 2016)   The parties compete to sell showerheads; Interlink claims rights in the marks AQUASPA, AQUASTORM, AQUADANCE, and SPIRALFLO for showerheads.  It … Continue reading →

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