Tag Archives: trademark

IPSC session 1

Posted on August 9, 2018 by rtushnet

Standard disclaimers apply: These are my summaries, not the presentations themselves. As usual, I have to skip a lot of interesting presentations and I try to attend things I haven’t seen, no matter how good the ones I have already … Continue reading →

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The Ninth Circuit don’t care: successful Rogers defense reversed because plaintiff’s trademark is “artistic”

Posted on August 8, 2018 by rtushnet

Gordon v. Drape Creative, Inc., No. 16-56715 (9th Cir. Jul. 30, 2018) The Ninth Circuit routinely invents some new epicycle for trademark defenses; here it unfortunately mushes together Rogers and transformativeness (absent the word itself, replaced with “artistic”).  There are … Continue reading →

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Plastic not so fantastic: video shot in medical facility didn’t defame or infringe facility’s TM rights

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rtushnet

Weirton Medical Center, Inc. v. Introublezone, Inc., 2018 WL 3458261, J-A06003-18 (Pa. Super. Ct. Jul. 18, 2018) Dr. Craig Richard Oser was a plastic surgeon with staff privileges at plaintiff WMC from 2009 to 2014, making him an employee according … Continue reading →

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ASTM v. PublicResource.org: Trademark

Posted on July 18, 2018 by rtushnet

American Society for Testing and Materials v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., No. 17-7035 (D.C. Cir. Jul. 17, 2018) Trademark: This was where the district court went very, very wrong—I consider the copyright issues difficult though I have a preferred outcome; the trademark … Continue reading →

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TM/False advertising issue of the day

Posted on July 12, 2018 by rtushnet

Seen on the street in NYC; the candies have no marijuana content–they’re sold as “adult” candies, furthering the impression. My daughter also asked “Could the owners of Scooby Doo sue?” and then, because I have taught her well, corrected that … Continue reading →

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False designation damages require proximate cause, dooming $250 million jury award

Posted on July 2, 2018 by rtushnet

ZeniMax Media Inc. v. Oculus VR LLC, No. 14-cv-01849 (N.D. Tex. Jun. 27, 2018) After trial of this case, the jury returned a verdict, finding in relevant part that defendants were liable for false designation of origin, basically about the … Continue reading →

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But in that sleep what dreams of liability may come?

Posted on May 16, 2018 by rtushnet

When you sue a competitor for false advertising, be prepared to get sued back.  In this pair of opinions, most of the parties’ claims against each other survived, paving the way for a messy trial. GhostBed, Inc. v. Casper Sleep, Inc., … Continue reading →

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TM exam question: the right of publicity v. comparative advertising

Posted on May 8, 2018 by rtushnet

What if Coco Chanel had been the plaintiff in Smith v. Chanel?  This question made me very happy, and I got a bunch of interesting answers on my final: Kim Kardashian is famous for being famous. She is a highly … Continue reading →

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ABC doesn’t find getting rid of pro se (c) and TM claim so simple

Posted on May 3, 2018 by rtushnet

 Manigault v. ABC Inc., 2018 WL 2022823, No. 17-CV-7375 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 12, 2018) (magistrate judge) An app owner’s copyright and trademark claims against a news organization for broadcasting a news story about apps, including his, survive a motion to dismiss … Continue reading →

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Alzheimer’s Association and Alzheimer’s Foundation in keyword battle

Posted on April 30, 2018 by rtushnet

Among other things, this case has some interesting things to say about IIC and proper controls in survey cases. Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Disorders Association, Inc. v. Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Inc. 2018 WL 1918618, No. 10-CV-3314 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 20, … Continue reading →

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