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May 11, 2026
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Colorado federal judge’s dismissal of a charter school management nonprofit organization’s claims that a charter school network infringed marks related to schools’ names after the end of management agreements that allowed use of the marks; the panel held that the terms of those agreements were ambiguous as to whether the management entity had a protectable interest in the marks it asserted against the school network.
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May 08, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Igloo Products Corp. on a federal false advertising claim against it, with the panel majority saying that Igloo’s claim that it had created the “first biodegradable cooler” was not a comment on the nature of the product itself and thus not actionable under the Lanham Act.
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May 06, 2026
TACOMA, Wash. — A federal magistrate judge in Washington granted a defendant website operator a narrow summary judgment win by finding that a plaintiff workplace-training program maker could not show that the operator contributed to third-party infringement of trademarks related to a workplace bingo program; genuine disputes of fact exist as to whether the defendant company itself infringed the marks, the magistrate judge also held.
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May 05, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge denied a motion from the trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to dismiss trademark infringement claims brought against the university by Columbia Sportswear Co. and affiliated entities, holding that the sportswear company sufficiently established that the Oregon federal court had specific personal jurisdiction over the university.
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May 01, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted a motion from Shein Distribution Corp. and affiliates to dismiss unfair competition and false designation of origin claims brought against them by another fashion entity, finding that the claims were preempted by federal copyright law because they were based only on the alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted images.
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April 29, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Crocs Inc.’s petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel’s January opinion that held that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) did not abuse its discretion by granting a limited exclusion order (LEO) and not a general exclusion order (GEO) to Crocs against defaulting defendants accused of importing products that infringed or diluted its trademarks.
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April 22, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the evidence did not support a California federal jury’s determination that defendant medical entities in a sprawling dispute over a cosmetic penile implant device had misappropriated trade secrets; the panel found that all alleged trade secrets had been publicly disclosed in prior art patents.
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April 21, 2026
ATLANTA — Reversing a Florida federal judge’s dismissal, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that an entity associated with the late Mexican surrealist artist Frida Kahlo established personal jurisdiction for Lanham Act and other claims against the artist’s grandniece because she is alleged to have sent cease-and-desist letters with false claims of trademark ownership into Florida on her own behalf.
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April 20, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a doll collector’s petition for a writ of certiorari on April 20, leaving in place a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion that affirmed a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) finding that the collector lacked standing to challenge a company’s application for a registered trademark on the name “Rapunzel” for use with dolls.
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April 17, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New Jersey federal judge’s denial of a preliminary injunction requested by appellants Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Biotech Inc., agreeing that the appellants had failed to show irreparable harm caused through Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. by an alleged breach of the settlement in an earlier patent dispute.
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April 13, 2026
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge had harsh words for the head of a New York area chapter of the Proud Boys extremist group who filed a response to a trademark infringement complaint filed against the group by a historic Black church in Washington, D.C., while a default judgment hearing was occurring before the court; the judge said the “Court balks at the suggestion that this level of disregard stemmed from an ‘inadvertent[]’ ‘calendaring error.’”
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April 10, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with a Pennsylvania federal judge that an online research platform was likely to succeed on its fair use defense against claims accusing it of infringing copyrighted building codes that have been incorporated into the International Building Code; the panel pointed to a 2023 opinion by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsinvolving the same plaintiff-appellant that similarly found fair use.
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April 10, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) had substantial evidence to support its rejection of a Dominican Republic tobacco company’s challenge to a CBD vape manufacturer’s application for a trademark on a stick-figure logo with limbs splayed out in the shape of the letter X, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed.
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April 09, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge held that a defaulting defendant engineering entity owes more than $30,000 in attorney fees because a plaintiff information technology (IT) company that brought trademark infringement claims had managed to illustrate the “exceptional” nature of the case.
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April 07, 2026
LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Washington did not clearly err when finding that an exotic dance bar could not show that a “bikini barista” coffee shop’s use of marks containing the phrase “Foxy Lady” was sufficiently similar to the bar’s own marks containing the phrase, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the judge’s denial of the bar’s request for default judgment and the subsequent dismissal.
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April 03, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — A partly split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a South Carolina federal magistrate judge’s finding that a plaintiff technology company’s federal trademark claims, filed only weeks after the settlement of state breach of contract claims, were barred by res judicata due to the “wide scope of the settlement agreement” in a dispute over marks containing the word “touch.”
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April 02, 2026
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge in Indiana denied the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining DraftKings Inc. from using a series of marks related to the annual “March Madness” basketball tournament, holding that while the NCAA had established likelihood of confusion regarding DraftKings’ use of the marks, it had failed to show the likelihood of irreparable reputational harm.
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April 01, 2026
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an insured’s lawsuit seeking personal and advertising injury coverage for an underlying action alleging that the insured unlawfully used another company’s trademark in its online advertising, holding that the underlying claims fail to establish an offense that falls under policy coverage and that an intellectual property exclusion further bars coverage.
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March 31, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from supplement makers accused of counterfeiting who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s entry of a $4 million judgment and award of nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after the judge entered default judgment against the petitioners; the justices will not consider arguments that the Ninth Circuit wrongly held that mere registration can satisfy the trademark infringement standard.
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March 27, 2026
PHOENIX — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 affirmed the confirmation of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award issued in favor of an Italian wine company involved in a dispute over trademark rights with its American distributor and ordered the distributor and its counsel to show cause why an award of attorney fees should not be imposed against them for bringing a “self-indulgent appeal” based on procedural defects and translation issues.
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March 24, 2026
CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Michigan federal judge did not abuse his discretion in largely denying a pet care services company’s request for a preliminary injunction against former franchisees the company said misappropriated proprietary methods, client data and trademarks; the panel saw no error in the district court’s application of the unclean hands doctrine.
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March 20, 2026
DENVER — A federal magistrate judge in Colorado granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the American organization for worshippers in the Bahá’í faith on trademark claims against an individual the organization says is using marks in connection with one of the religion’s governing bodies; the judge agreed with the plaintiff religious organization that the outcome of the trademark claims was determined by the defendant’s loss before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
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March 18, 2026
PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of a trademark infringement dispute that a California-based beverage store brought against a similarly named wine shop in New York, agreeing in a March 17 unpublished memorandum disposition that the plaintiff-appellant shop and its owner had failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the New York store.
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March 18, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge was right to dismiss an actor’s trademark infringement claims against Tyler Perry Studios (TPS) film studio for lack of personal jurisdiction, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the district court’s rejection of claims that Perry wrongly distributed a recording of a performance of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” before the play was adapted into a successful film.
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March 17, 2026
CLEVELAND — An Ohio federal judge denied a nonprofit birthing advocacy group’s motion to dismiss its founder’s complaint that the organization used copyrights and trademarks created by the founder without authorization; the judge held that the plaintiff adequately alleged copyright and trademark infringement for the purpose of surviving dismissal.