Category Archives: first amendment

Affiliates are advertiser’s agents

Posted on January 5, 2015 by rtushnet

American Bullion, Inc. v. Regal Assets, LLC, 2014 WL 7404597, No. CV 14–01873 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 30, 2014)   Regal sought reconsideration of the court’s grant of a preliminary injunction on false advertising claims, which was granted in part.  American … Continue reading →

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scientific claims in ordinary ads aren’t protected opinion

Posted on December 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Eastman Chemical Co. v. Plastipure, Inc., 2014 WL 7271384, No. 13–51087 (5th Cir. Dec. 22, 2014) A jury found that Plastipure (and defendant CertiChem) engaged in false advertising (discussed here).  The court of appeals affirmed the entry of an injunction.  … Continue reading →

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you can’t a accuse competitor of lawbreaking when courts have ruled against you

Posted on December 18, 2014 by rtushnet

Paul Davis Restoration, Inc. v. Everett, No. 14–C–1534, 2014 WL 7140038 (E.D. Wis. Dec. 12, 2014) Following a series of unsuccessful lawsuits with Paul Davis Restoration, Inc., Matthew Everett, a former franchisee, began running a radio ad: This is a … Continue reading →

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restrictions on lawyer ads touting past results unconstitutional

Posted on December 15, 2014 by rtushnet

Rubenstein v. Florida Bar, No. 14–CIV–20786, 2014 WL 6979574 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 9, 2014) Florida bars attorney advertising from referring to past results, which a Bar task force held in 1997 were inherently misleading to laypeople, because cases that appear … Continue reading →

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Actual confusion irrelevant when Rogers v. Grimaldi applies

Posted on December 12, 2014 by rtushnet

Mil-Spec Monkey, Inc. v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., No. 14-cv-02361 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 24, 2014)  MSM alleged that the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts made infringing use of MSM’s “angry monkey” mark, “among the most popular morale patch designs” MSM … Continue reading →

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Reading list: facts versus opinions in mandatory disclosure

Posted on December 11, 2014 by rtushnet

Daniel E. Herz-Roiphe, Stubborn Things: An Empirical Approach to Facts, Opinions, and the First Amendment From the intro: [This] essay reports the results of an original survey that presented respondents with the actual disclosures at issue in a number of … Continue reading →

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Religion isn’t (yet) a defense to false advertising

Posted on December 8, 2014 by rtushnet

State v. Valerie Saxion, Inc., 2014 WL 6839970, No. 02–13–00227 (Tex. Ct. App. Dec. 4, 2014) Valerie Saxion argued that her free speech (and RFRA) rights were being violated by the state’s pursuit of claims against her and her company … Continue reading →

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Falsity of political ad irrelevant to constitutionality of public entity’s rejection

Posted on December 3, 2014 by rtushnet

American Freedom Defense Initiative v. Southeastern Pennysylvania Transportation Authority, No. 2:14-5335 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 25, 2014) Plaintiffs sued SEPTA, arguing that it violated their First Amendment rights by refusing to post an ad on buses on the grounds that the … Continue reading →

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NFL Films protected by First Amendment against players’ right of publicity claims

Posted on October 14, 2014 by rtushnet

Dryer v. National Football League, No. 09-2182 (D. Minn. Oct. 10, 2014) There are two alternatives when it comes to the right of publicity, it seems to me.  Either we will limp along with a special rule for video games … Continue reading →

Posted in commercial speech, first amendment, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, preemption, right of publicity, trademark | Leave a comment

3rd Annual Trademark Works in Progress event at AU

Posted on October 10, 2014 by rtushnet

Charles Colman, Trademark Law and the Prickly Ambivalence of Post-Parodies: The way that people play with trademarks that companies have deliberately infused with atmospherics, per Jessica Litman, and to which people have predictable emotional responses.  TM doesn’t have good ways … Continue reading →

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