Tag Archives: trademark

Rogers v. Grimaldi lives on, at least for work content

Of note because the lawsuit was brought at all, suggesting that trademark owners are willing to try to roll back any First Amendment protections for noncommercial speech. Pepperdine University v. Netflix, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-01429-CV (ADSx), 2025 WL 632983 (C.D. Cal. … Continue reading

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5th Circuit discounts confusion caused by overlap in commonly used arbitrary word

Rampart Resources, Inc. v. Rampart/Wurth Holding, Inc., No. 24-30111, 2025 WL 586820 (5th Cir. Feb. 24, 2025) District court’s denial of preliminary injunction discussed here. Rampart Resources) provides real estate and property management services in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, … Continue reading

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Remedy creep: SCt seems to endorse more disgorgement

Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., No. 23–900 (Feb. 26, 2025) We’ve gone very fast from most lower courts saying that willfulness was required for Lanham Act disgorgement/profits awards, to the Court saying that it wasn’t required but was … Continue reading

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game spat expands beyond false advertising to TM and (c)

Skillz Platform Inc. v. Papaya Gaming, Ltd., 2025 WL 438387, 24cv1646(DLC) (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2025) Previous discussion. Skillz sued its competitor Papaya, alleging false advertising under federal and state law. Papaya counterclaimed for the same causes of action and added … Continue reading

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LinkedIn connection supports right of publicity claim for otherwise generic word

Joel E. Cape, PLC v. Cape Law PC, — F.Supp.3d —-, 2024 WL 4839370, NO. 5:24-CV-5104 (W.D. Ark. Nov. 20, 2024) The right of publicity claim in this case seems to hang on a LinkedIn connection. Joel Cape opened his … Continue reading

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gray market material differences must come from products/warranties, not supply chain alone

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. v. Allen Interchange LLC, 2025 WL 465815, No. 22-cv-1681 (KMM/JFD) (D. Minn. Feb. 11, 2025) This discovery dispute says some interesting things about gray market goods. “This lawsuit involves claims and counterclaims between competitors selling … Continue reading

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delay bars ROP/Lanham Act claims when Facebook use was open and plaintiffs were aware of lots of unauthorized use

Davalos v. Baywaych Inc., 2024 WL 5344434, — F.Supp.3d —-, No. 21-11075-NMG (D. Mass. Sept. 30, 2024) The caption seems to be a typo, but it’s one of the many right of publicity etc. cases by models against adult clubs … Continue reading

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WIPIP: IP for the Larger World

Koo, De-Colonising Copyright Law Is fair use even possible outside the US? If we want to export fair use, what is it we actually want to export? Many US academics many not think it’s the greatest idea—if we had a … Continue reading

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WIPIP, UNLV: TM Protectability

Jeanne Fromer (with Beebe and Stein), An Empirical Picture of Trademark Law We are running out of competitively effective word marks. What about images? Word marks dominate consistently over time, but numbers have increased in every category. Our definitions: images … Continue reading

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incontestable LIZZIE BORDEN registration + actual confusion insufficient to overcome weight of history, 1st Circuit rules

US Ghost Adventures, LLC v. Miss Lizzie’s Coffee LLC, No. 23-2000 (1st Cir. Nov. 15, 2024) The Lizzie Borden House “bears a storied history that originates with the still-unsolved murders — in 1892 — of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother.” … Continue reading

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