Tag Archives: preemption

8th Circuit finds copyright preemption of publicity claim

Posted on February 26, 2016 by rtushnet

Dryer v. National Football League, No. 14-3428 (8th Cir. Feb. 26, 2016)   I blogged about the district court ruling and wrote an amicus brief in the appeal; now the 8th Circuit affirms the rejection of football players’ right of … Continue reading →

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Court rejects Zippo jurisdiction test but allows suit over alleged copying

Posted on January 25, 2016 by rtushnet

Kindig It Design, Inc. v. Creative Controls, Inc., — F. Supp. 3d —-, 2016 WL 247574,  No. 2:14-cv-00867 (D. Utah Jan. 20, 2016)   Mostly a personal jurisdiction ruling in this copyright/patent infringement/false advertising case brought by Kindig, which customizes … Continue reading →

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Puerto Rico registration can’t constitutionally extend elsewhere

Posted on December 17, 2015 by rtushnet

Puerto Rico Coffee Roasters LLC v. Pan American Grain Manufacturing Co., Inc., 2015 WL 8551102, No. 3:15–CV–02099 (D.P.R. Dec. 11, 2015)   P.R. Coffee Roasters, which sells “Café Rico” coffee in P.R., sued Pan American for trademark infringement, false advertising, … Continue reading →

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California claims against false use of “organic” not preempted

Posted on December 7, 2015 by rtushnet

Quesada v. Herb Thyme Farms, Inc., 2015 WL 7770635, No. S216305 (Cal. S.Ct. Dec. 3, 2015)   Labels matter to consumers, and misrepresentations on labels hurt consumers in their search for information and also disadvantage honest producers attempting to differentiate … Continue reading →

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Pairing map with EPA mileage claims can misrepresent real-world mileage

Posted on November 30, 2015 by rtushnet

Kim v. General Motors, LLC, 99 F. Supp. 3d 1096 (C.D. Cal. 2015)   Kim sued GM for misleadingly advertising EPA estimated mileage figures and numbers derived from these figures as “actual, expected mileage under normal, real world driving conditions.” … Continue reading →

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FDLI symposium: special topics

Posted on October 30, 2015 by rtushnet

Special Topics FDA Regulation of Genomic Testing and the First Amendment Barbara Evans, Professor, University of Houston Law Center   Of companies in clinical sequencing industry: 10 of 68 do sequencing only; 21 of 68 annotation and interpretation only. That … Continue reading →

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Right of Publicity Workshop Part 3

Posted on October 17, 2015 by rtushnet

Relationship to Copyright law/Relationship to Trademark law    Dryer v. NFL will be argued to the 8th Cir. challenged by retired NFL players to continued airing of programs recounting their exploits in actual games.  Survived a motion to dismiss.  After … Continue reading →

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Right of publicity workshop at Yale

Posted on October 17, 2015 by rtushnet

Right of Publicity Workshop Yale Law School Information Society Project Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression   Chatham House rules apparently allow me to disclose my own participation, but not that of others, so I’ll just take some notes on … Continue reading →

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Dastar bars website trade dress claim that just repeats copyright allegations

Posted on October 16, 2015 by rtushnet

Touchpoint Communications, LLC v. DentalFone, LLC, No. 15-cv-05240 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 9, 2015)   Touchpoint and DentalFone are Internet dental marketing companies.  Touchpoint filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a judgment of noninfringement of DentalFone’s copyrights and trade dress/lack of … Continue reading →

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Don’t send misappropriation to do copyright’s job

Posted on October 1, 2015 by rtushnet

Alaskasland.com, LLC v. Cross, No. S­15270 (Alaska Sept. 25, 2015)   A realtor group listed property adjacent to a neighboring subdivision, Susitna Shores, using three photos taken from the subdivision’s marketing materials, including one showing the subdivision’s stylized entrance sign.  … Continue reading →

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