Author Archives: rtushnet

Focus, Grasshopper: infringement isn’t false advertising

Posted on March 6, 2015 by rtushnet

Grasshopper Motorcycles, Ltd. v. Rivera, No. 14–cv–320, 2015 WL 853564 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 26, 2015) (magistrate judge)   Grasshopper sells a moon-shaped backrest designed to be attached behind the driver’s seat of a motorcycle. “Its 2013 sales were approximately $333,000, … Continue reading →

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PTO descriptiveness finding inadmissible where court ruled mark suggestive

Posted on March 6, 2015 by rtushnet

Innovation Ventures, LLC v. NVE, Inc., 2015 WL 871137, No. 08–11867 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 27, 2015)   Various evidentiary rulings in the latest round of this trademark/false advertising case over energy shots, the first of which presages what I expect … Continue reading →

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Irreparable harm webinar tomorrow

Posted on March 5, 2015 by rtushnet

Please click on the link below to register for a timely lunchtime teleseminar where our panel of experts will address the status of “irreparable harm” in Lanham Act false advertising cases.   Recent cases have suggested that courts no longer … Continue reading →

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UK ad regulator finds Israel falsely advertised

Posted on March 4, 2015 by rtushnet

By implying that the Old City of Jerusalem was recognized as being in Israel, rather than in occupied Palestinian territories.  File under: having the First Amendment makes the US very different. http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Pregnancy clinic ads are commercial speech

Posted on March 2, 2015 by rtushnet

First Resort, Inc. v. Herrera, No. C 11-5534 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 20, 2015)      The court rejected a facial challenge to San Francisco’s Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, “aimed at ensuring that indigent women facing unexpected pregnancies are not … Continue reading →

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Copying graffiti could infringe copyright and trademark

Posted on March 2, 2015 by rtushnet

Williams v. Roberto Cavalli S.p.A., No. 14-cv-06659 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2015)   Plaintiffs Jason Williams, Victor Chapa, and Jeffrey Rubin sued the producers and distributors of Just Cavalli clothing, alleging copyright infringement, removal and alteration of copyright information (CMI) … Continue reading →

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

Court misapplies FTDA, not TDRA, to political speech

Posted on March 2, 2015 by rtushnet

Hershey Co. v. Friends of Steve Hershey, 2015 WL 795841, No. WDQ–14–1825. (D. Md. Feb. 24, 2015)   Disappointing ruling on political speech and infringement now supplemented by flat-out wrong ruling on dilution.  Hershey sued the Friends of Steve Hershey … Continue reading →

Posted in commercial speech, dilution, first amendment, trademark | Leave a comment

When is a house an advertisement?

Posted on March 2, 2015 by rtushnet

Mid-Continent Casualty Co. v. Kipp Flores Architects, L.L.C., No. 14-50649 (5th Cir. Feb. 26, 2015)   KFA, an architecture firm, got a judgment in a jury trial against a builder, Hallmark Design Homes, for copyright infringement for building hundreds of … Continue reading →

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AU IP/Gender: Panel IV: Gendered Understandings of the Role and Scope of IP

Posted on February 27, 2015 by rtushnet

Moderator – Irene Calboli, Marquette Law School and National University of Singapore   Carys Craig, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University – Deconstructing Copyright’s Choreographer: the Power of Performance (and the Performance of Power)   Feminist approach to conceptualizing artistic … Continue reading →

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AU IP/Gender Panel III: US Federal Courts

Posted on February 27, 2015 by rtushnet

Panel III: Gender and Intellectual Property in the U.S. Federal Courts Moderator – Christine Farley, American University Washington College of Law   Jessica Silbey, Suffolk University Law School – Intellectual Property Reform Through the Lens of Constitutional Equality   Qualitative … Continue reading →

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