— Karen Brennan, Attorney

There is a great new commercial by Petco (view here) for pet food that is purported to improve a dog’s health and vitality.  The commercial starts with a dog reflecting on being called fat and feeling lazy.  But, after eating the new food, the dog has more energy and feels young again.  The  way the commercial ends is the interesting part – two dogs in separate bathtubs overlooking beautiful scenery looking longingly at each other.  Sound familiar?

The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has long been using the “bathtub” scene at the end of Cialis commercials, which immediately came to mind when I saw the Petco commercial.   Take a look:

 

The similarities raise some interesting copyright (is it a parody?) and trademark (are the Cialis bathtubs famous?) issues to consider.