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Category Archives: Law Suits

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Distinguishing the Fictional From the Real: Names and Brands in Television and Movies

By on Posted in Agreements, Branding, Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, First Amendment, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

We have an interesting question to answer, leading us into the holiday weekend, during which I suspect a few movies will be watched by more than a few marketing types and trademark types: “Is it trademark infringement if a fictional company or product in a movie or television drama bears the same name or brand as a real… Continue Reading

The INTA “Trademark Bullying” Straitjacket

By on Posted in Advertising, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks

This past week I’ve been pondering a question of great importance: When might a straitjacket double as a life vest? The answer actually arrived last Monday during INTA’s “The Ethics of Trademark Bullying” panel discussion at the 135th Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. In so many words, our good friend and wise guy Ron Coleman, over at… Continue Reading

Putt-Putt Has No Miniature Trademark Rights

By on Posted in Branding, Genericide, Infringement, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Trademarks

With all the golf coverage of the Masters Tournament and the coveted Green Jacket, this past weekend, it seemed particularly appropriate to report on a recent trademark case involving the miniature variety of golf: Putt-Putt, LLC v. 416 Constant Friendship, LLC (April 5, 2013 D. Md.). So, I learned two things this weekend, Adam Scott… Continue Reading

Employee Wrongfully Terminated for Refusing to Engage in Criminal Copyright Infringement

By on Posted in Copyrights, Infringement, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts

Adam Young worked for an architecture firm, Nortex Foundation Designs Inc. in Fort Worth Texas as a drafter. He was hired in 2001 and designed foundation plans based on copyrighted architectural designs that Nortex provided to him. In 2010, Young received a plan being drafted for a homeowner that had a black stamp which stated… Continue Reading

Body Shaping Manufacturers Butting Heads Over Cami Designs

By on Posted in Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Patents

- Jeffrey Stone, Patent Attorney, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. Two previously unrelated topics, Spanx and the Real Housewives television shows, are now connected by a legal dispute that is shaping up to be a real battle of the bulge (or muffin top) with neither party seemingly interested in smoothing things over. Thanks to recent, and ongoing, design patent… Continue Reading

Kardashians Caught Without Makeup, But Not The Way You’d Expect

By on Posted in Advertising, Law Suits, Trademarks

For those of you that came looking for pictures of Kim without face paste, this isn’t your post.  (Try this one.  Yikes.)  But if you’re interested in trademarks and the cult of personality, read on. Some of you might recall my Keeping Up With The Kardashian’s post from mid-January where I summarized a brouhaha developing over… Continue Reading

I SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE: WILL LEADERS AND COMPANIES EVER LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES?

By on Posted in Guest Bloggers, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts

- James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA Tuesday, February 26, 2013 was a bright, cold, sunny day as I prepared to depart State College, Pennsylvania, the home of Penn State football, after participating the evening before in a really interesting and wide-ranging panel discussion; an exploration of the problems this University is facing, and… Continue Reading

Sheetz Flushing Subway’s Footlong TM Hope?

By on Posted in Branding, Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks, TTAB, USPTO

It has been almost six months since oral argument before the TTAB over the question of whether the word “footlong” is a trademark or a generic name for a type of sandwich. What type of sandwich you ask? One about twice as long as a six inch sandwich, let’s say about twelve inches in length, making it, oh, about a foot long. Needless… Continue Reading

Update on Tory Burch Lawsuit

By on Posted in Branding, Law Suits

–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney The Tory Burch C. Wonder saga has drawn to a close, and sadly for this captive audience member, due to a settlement agreement. On the evening of December 26, 2012, Tory Burch announced that she and her ex-husband, Chris Burch, had come to an agreement to settle all pending legal claims between… Continue Reading

My Namesake Sues To Protect Its Famous Mark

By on Posted in Branding, Counterfeits, Dilution, False Advertising, Famous Marks, Infringement, Law Suits, Sight, Trademarks

Coincidentally (or perhaps by design), Tiffany and Company (“Tiffany”) filed suit on Valentine’s Day against Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco”) to protect its trademark with respect to engagement rings.  We know from our prior post regarding Tiffany’s amicus brief filed in support of Christian Louboutin that Tiffany actively protects its brand. If you are like me,… Continue Reading

The Data Breach Lawsuit Powder Keg

By on Posted in Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Technology

Most data breaches occur because companies fail to implement adequate safeguards to protect personal identifiable information, and data breaches are growing in scope and sophistication. A study by NetDiligence concluded that the average cost per breach is $3.7 million, which includes the litigation defense cost. However, not all data breaches result in identify theft, and… Continue Reading

Monster Cable Ordered to Pay Monster Daddy Attorneys Fees in Meritless Appeal

By on Posted in Contracts, Law Suits, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks, TTAB

Techdirt has written extensively about why Monster Cable is considered ”somewhat famous as a trademark bully.” Numerous comments to a TTABlog post reinforce this view. One of the examples Mike Masnick over at Techdirt has highlighted is a TTAB case we handled for a Monster Cable victim a few years back, reported here, with pleadings here. This victory led us… Continue Reading

The Not-So-Happy Place of Genericness

By on Posted in Articles, Food, Genericide, Infringement, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Trademarks

Restaurant trade dress is possible to own when the claimed trade dress is distinctive and non-functional, think Taco Cabana. Restaurant trade dress can be so unique in the marketplace that distinctiveness is presumed with a finding of inherent distinctiveness. When not so obviously unique, distinctiveness also can be established with the more difficult proof of secondary meaning. Remember 1992? The… Continue Reading

Trademark Licensee’s Rights Remain Unsettled When Licensor Files Bankruptcy

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Patents, Trademarks

- Chris Camardello, Bankruptcy Attorney Those who license the right to use another’s brand need to pay more attention to the resulting risks when the brand owner files bankruptcy, given the uncertainty resulting from some recent legal developments.  And those interested in purchasing brands in bankruptcy should sit up straight and pay special attention too…. Continue Reading

Baby I Got Your Money…

By on Posted in Law Suits

Much of the mainstream media (not us here at Duetsblog) has recently been reporting that, based on a ruling by United States District Court Judge Claudia Wilken from the Northern District of California, ”NCAA athletes can pursue TV money.”  I clicked on and read this ESPN article with great anticipation as it would have been a watershed… Continue Reading

The Louboutin Color Trademark Controversy Continues

By on Posted in Branding, Copyrights, Infringement, Law Suits, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Trademarks, USPTO

While watching Lena Dunham stumble in her 6-inch Louboutin red-soled heels during the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards broadcast, our comments revolved around the fact that her dress was so long, she should have worn slippers instead of stilettos.  We believed that Ms. Dunham should have waited to wear the Louboutin shoes until she was wearing… Continue Reading

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

By on Posted in Advertising, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

Those of you with an interest in cosmetics or trainwrecks have perhaps noticed the trademark dispute that has boiled over regarding Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian’s use of “Khroma” in their cosmetic line.   Apparently, the sisters have run into double, double, toil and trouble because there were preexisting marks of “Chroma” and “Kroma” used in… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Upholds Nike’s Promise to “Break the Wrist, and Walk Away”

By on Posted in Articles, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

Not every day does the United States Supreme Court weigh in on a topic impacting the trademark world, but it did so yesterday in Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., a case illustrating what can happen when a trademark plaintiff wants to pull the plug and end the lawsuit it started in a walkaway (or as martial arts instructor… Continue Reading

Batmobile: The Copyright Rises

By on Posted in Copyrights, Infringement, Law Suits, Patents, Product Configurations

Over the weekend, I saw an article in the Hollywood Reporter (which incidentally likes to quote our very own Catlan McCurdy, like here and here) discussing the copyright dispute over the 1966 Batmobile.  Warner Brothers and its subsidiary DC Comics sued the owner of Gotham Garage for trademark and copyright infringement of the Batmobile design. … Continue Reading

Kickstarting Your Trademark Portfolio

By on Posted in Articles, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Technology, Trademarks, USPTO

– Draeke H. Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC 68,929 Backers.  $10,266,845 Pledged.  10,266% Funded. The stat line above describes “Pebble,” a project to build blue-tooth enabled watches with e-paper screens that display information from synchronized mobile phones.  The project is the highest funded project in the history of Kickstarter, a crowd-funding platform started in 2009. … Continue Reading

I Didn’t Realize William Faulkner Used To Live Under A Bridge

By on Posted in Copyrights, First Amendment, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts

Those of us that work in the field of intellectual property law have gotten really familiar with a species known as trolls.   I’m not talking about mythical Norse creatures.  I’m talking about patent trolls, trademark trolls, and copyright trolls.  To the uninitiated, these various species of trolls are essentially people and companies that attempt to… Continue Reading

Mixed Chicks Scores Big

By on Posted in Infringement, Law Suits, Product Packaging, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks

It’s not every day that a small company stands up for itself against a multi-billion dollar company in court, and manages to obtain a large verdict in the process, but this is precisely the Cinderella story that played out in a trademark and trade dress infringement case in California recently.  When Mixed Chicks, LLC (“Mixed Chicks”) sued Sally… Continue Reading

C. Wonder – Not So Wonderful According to Tory Burch

By on Posted in Branding, Law Suits

–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney Tory Burch, a designer known for her colorful, yet accessible preppy styles and signature double-T medallion, has a new contender to deal with in the fashion world, and unfortunately it’s her ex-husband and former business partner, Chris Burch. Chris opened up his own store in 2011, under the unfortunate name C. Wonder, which,… Continue Reading