Tag Archives: trademark

USC IP year in review, TM/ROP

Posted on October 4, 2021 by rtushnet

 My presentation, galloping across a bunch of developments. Slides here. Begin with legislative action: Trademark Modernization Act, Which introduces three of the big themes of the year: (1) trademark use, (2) the harm of infringement, and (3) the role of … Continue reading →

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maintaining outdated article on website about former supplier wasn’t false association

Posted on October 1, 2021 by rtushnet

Archi’s Acres, Inc. v. Whole Foods Market Service, Inc., 2021 WL 424286, No. 19-CV-2478 JLS (MSB) (S.D. Cal. Feb. 8, 2021) Plaintiffs are farmers and growers of high-quality living organic basil. Whole Foods began purchasing small quantities of basil from … Continue reading →

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TM claimant may add false advertising claims as direct competitor

Posted on September 28, 2021 by rtushnet

Entrepreneur Media, Inc. v. Roach, 2021 WL 4134836, No. 8:20-cv-01690-JVS-AD (C.D. Cal. Jul. 1, 2021) Entrepreneur, a frequent trademark claimant, sought to amend its complaint and add new parties to the TM claims here. Entrepreneur has 15 federal registrations that … Continue reading →

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TM complainant fails to sink its teeth into unrelated false advertising claims

Posted on September 28, 2021 by rtushnet

Vampire Family Brands, LLC v. MPL Brands, Inc., No. CV 20-9482-DMG (ASx), 2021 WL 4134841 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2021) VFB sued MPL for Lanham Act, UCL, and FAL violations based on MPL’s “vampiro” cocktail. Unsurprisingly, the trademark claims survive … Continue reading →

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Video game skates away from liability to pro skateboarder

Posted on September 27, 2021 by rtushnet

Miller v. Easy Day Studios Pty Ltd, 2021 WL 4209205, No. 20cv02187-LAB-DEB (S.D. Cal. Sept. 16, 2021) Gordon v. Drape did mess things up in the Ninth Circuit, but core Rogers cases are still simple. Defendants paid Zachary Miller, a … Continue reading →

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over dissent, 5th Circuit applies Lanham Act to political speech

Posted on September 23, 2021 by rtushnet

Alliance for Good Government v. Coalition for Better Government, No. 20-30233 (5th Cir. May 19, 2021) I sometimes hold out the hope that courts will develop a general treatment of the First Amendment/Lanham Act interaction. This case suggests that that … Continue reading →

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No PI where individual defendant has left allegedly trademark-infringing role

Posted on September 21, 2021 by rtushnet

Nigerians in Diaspora Organization Americas v. Key, 2021 WL 811094, No. 19-3015 (RDM) (D.D.C. Mar. 3, 2021) “NIDOA is a continental nonprofit organization that advocates for the interests of Nigerians in the Western Hemisphere.”  It alleged that, under the continental … Continue reading →

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TM infringement and false advertising claims related to putative open source software “fork” succeed

Posted on September 16, 2021 by rtushnet

Neo4j, Inc. v. PureThink, LLC, 2021 WL 2483778, No. 5:18-cv-07182-EJD (N.D. Cal. May 18, 2021) Neo4j specializes in graph database management systems. “Neo4j USA’s platform helps organizations make sense of their data by revealing how people, processes and digital systems … Continue reading →

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student social media use of school colors/logo not plausibly confusing

Posted on September 14, 2021 by rtushnet

Arizona Board of Regents v. Doe, 2021 WL 3684116, No. CV-20-01638-PHX-DWL (D. Ariz. Aug. 18, 2021) Doe, a real asshole (“deeply unsympathetic,” to use the court’s terms), advertised “ASU Covid Parties” on a similarly-named Instagram account and spewed a lot … Continue reading →

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Reading list: The Confusion Test in European Trade Mark Law

Posted on September 13, 2021 by rtushnet

Ilanah Fhima & Dev S. Gangjee, The Confusion Test in European Trade Mark Law (2019) A very helpful overview. From a US perspective, offers real insights into how a system of registration primacy differs from a system of use primacy. … Continue reading →

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