Tag Archives: trademark

Sam’s Club exposed to disgorgement for potential warranty differences in grey goods it sold

Posted on May 26, 2020 by rtushnet

Monahan Prods. LLC v. Sam’s East, Inc., 2020 WL 2561255, No. 18-11561-FDS (D. Mass. May 20, 2020) Plaintiff makes UPPAbaby strollers. Sam’s is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse stores and, despite not being an authorized retailer, it sold actual … Continue reading →

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A few thoughts on the Booking.com argument

Posted on May 7, 2020 by rtushnet

The Justices were engaged and asking the right questions, despite everyone’s use of “trademark” as a verb to mean “register.” With a putatively generic term the equation is perhaps understandable since if it is unregistrable it will also be unprotectable … Continue reading →

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9th Circuit panel divides on evidence of injury in false advertising case

Posted on May 4, 2020 by rtushnet

VBS Distribution, Inc. v. Nutrivita Laboratories, Inc., — Fed.Appx. —-, 2020 WL 2086557, No. 18-56317 (9th Cir. Apr. 30, 2020) The parties compete in the market for nutritional supplements and television programs. VBS sued for Lanham Act and California state … Continue reading →

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TM may look like a certification mark, but that doesn’t harm a competing trade organization

Posted on May 1, 2020 by rtushnet

North American Olive Oil Ass’n v. D’avolio Inc., 16-CV-6986 (SJF) (ARL), 2020 WL 2079421 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 30, 2020) NAOOA, a trade association for olive oil marketers/sellers/etc., sued a number of defendants for false advertising about olive oil sold by others. … Continue reading →

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11th Circuit protects (at least some) truthful references to product creation

Posted on April 20, 2020 by rtushnet

Webster v. Dean Guitars, — F.3d —-, 2020 WL 1887783, No. 19-10013 (11th Cir. Apr. 16, 2020) Buddy Webster (pka Buddy Blaze), a successful guitar maker and technician, in the mid-1980s modified a Dean guitar and commissioned someone to paint … Continue reading →

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Humvees in Call of Duty are constitutionally protected realism, not confusing/diluting

Posted on April 17, 2020 by rtushnet

AM General LLC v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., No. 17 Civ. 8644 (GBD) (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2020) The district court allows Humvees to appear in realistic videogames by performing a full confusion analysis, despite purporting to follow Rogers v. Grimaldi. The … Continue reading →

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Rogers continues to collapse into transformativeness in the Ninth Circuit: dog toy edition

Posted on April 17, 2020 by rtushnet

VIP Products LLC v. Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc., No. 18-16012 (9th Cir. Mar. 21, 2020) VIP Products sells the “Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker” dog toy, which resembles a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Black Label Tennessee Whiskey, but … Continue reading →

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TheRealReal is ok except where it is FakeFake

Posted on April 16, 2020 by rtushnet

Chanel, Inc. v. The RealReal, Inc., 2020 WL 1503422, No. 18-CV-10626 (VSB) (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2020) Very interesting case: Chanel sued TRR for trademark infringement etc. for allegedly overclaiming its association with Chanel by prominently advertising how much Chanel there … Continue reading →

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grey goods: materiality is key

Posted on April 16, 2020 by rtushnet

Dentsply Sirona, Inc. v. Dental Brands For Less LLC, No. 15 Civ. 8775 (LGS), 2020 WL 1643891 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 2, 2020) Trademark confusion is sometimes a normative conclusion, not an empirical one, even though the language surrounding it is empirical. … Continue reading →

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Mislabeled image of competitor’s LED screen as LG’s gets LG in trouble

Posted on March 23, 2020 by rtushnet

Sansi North America, LLC v. LG Electronics USA, Inc., 2019 WL 8168069, No. CV 18-3541 PSG (SKx) (C.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2019) LG used a picture of Sansi’s LED displays in an article for a trade publication and accidentally labeled … Continue reading →

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