Tag Archives: false advertising

The probiotic worm turns: previous PI loser wins $15 million in Lanham Act case

Posted on June 26, 2019 by rtushnet

De Simone v. VSL Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. TDC-15-1356, 2019 WL 2569574 (D. Md. Jun. 20, 2019) Previous discussions.  The parties compete in offering a probiotic product; De Simone used to license his formulation to VSL, then went out on his … Continue reading →

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variety in superiority claims can add up to disparagement

Posted on June 20, 2019 by rtushnet

Deerpoint Group, Inc. v. Agrigenix, LLC, 2019 WL 2513756, No. 18-CV-0536 AWI BAM (E.D. Cal. Jun. 18, 2019) Deerpoint sued Agrigenix for violating the Lanham Act and California’s UCL via false advertising, violating California and federal trade secret law, and … Continue reading →

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photo of competitor’s product not false where it’s indistinguishable; also some design patent functionality

Posted on June 13, 2019 by rtushnet

Tactical Medical Solutions, Inc. v. KARL 2019 WL 2435859, No. 14 C 06035 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 11, 2019) TMS sued Karl and his sole proprietorship, EMI, for infringement of TMS’s design and utility patents by selling a “knockoff” version of … Continue reading →

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Amicus brief in video game/trademark case

Posted on June 10, 2019 by rtushnet

With the help of Phil Malone and Alyssa Picard at Stanford’s IP clinic, I and others submitted a law professors’ brief in this case involving Activision’s use of Humvees in depictions of military operations in the Call of Duty games.  AMG … Continue reading →

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Mock magazine cover doesn’t infringe, dilute, advertise falsely even if targeted at competitor

Posted on June 6, 2019 by rtushnet

Ebony Media Operations, LLC v. Univision Communications Inc., No. 18-cv-11434-AKH (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 3, 2019) Judge Hellerstein called the question presented “interesting,” but an even better adjective would be “easy”: “whether, in the case of a famous magazine trademark, a competitor-magazine … Continue reading →

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Mock magazine cover doesn’t infringe, dilute, advertise falsely even if targeted at competitor

Posted on June 6, 2019 by rtushnet

Ebony Media Operations, LLC v. Univision Communications Inc., No. 18-cv-11434-AKH (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 3, 2019) Judge Hellerstein called the question presented “interesting,” but an even better adjective would be “easy”: “whether, in the case of a famous magazine trademark, a competitor-magazine … Continue reading →

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The Consumer “Right To Know” Versus the First Amendment

Posted on June 4, 2019 by rtushnet

Panel II at the Abrams Institute’s conference Moderator: Jonah Knobler, Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler: recent attempts to do things like require disclosure of child labor in manufacturing process, and related consumer protection cases arguing that failure to disclose … Continue reading →

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major beer battle turns on Mead (Johnson)

Posted on May 31, 2019 by rtushnet

Long post, lots of stuff to cover in this opinion. MillerCoors, LLC v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., No. 19-cv-218-wmc (W.D. Wisc. May 24, 2019) There’s an apocryphal ad story about a cannery stuck with unmarketable pale salmon that turned its disadvantage around … Continue reading →

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Placebo effect is ok by CLRA: Homeopathic remedy wins jury trial on false advertising, still needs to defend against “unfairness”

Posted on May 20, 2019 by rtushnet

Allen v. Hylands, Inc., — Fed.Appx. —-, 2019 WL 2142843, No. 17-56184 (9th Cir. May 15, 2019) Allen, on behalf of a class, appealled following a jury’s verdict in favor of Hyland’s. “The gravamen of [Allen’s] claims is that Hyland’s … Continue reading →

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AARP endorsement of insurer doesn’t inherently represent that AARP chose disinterestedly

Posted on May 17, 2019 by rtushnet

Levay v. AARP, Inc., 2019 WL 2108124, No. 17-09041 DDP (PLAx) (C.D. Cal. May 14, 2019) Plaintiffs are AARP members who allege to have “joined and paid to be AARP members” after being allegedly “induced … through unlawful, misleading and/or … Continue reading →

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