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June 10, 2024
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Alabama did not err in granting a motion to dismiss trademark and copyright infringement claims leveled in connection with dog shampoo marketed as “pet friendly,” the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded.
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June 03, 2024
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois overseeing a dispute between competing vape makers has rejected as premature a motion to dismiss counterclaims of design patent and trade dress infringement as well as a motion by the counterclaimant for a preliminary injunction.
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May 30, 2024
NEW YORK — An appellant who was permanently enjoined from packaging its whiskey in a manner that dilutes the trademark of a competitor failed in its request for review of a New York federal judge’s refusal to clarify that one of its packaging designs is nondilutive and that its redesigned packaging would be injunction-compliant, with the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding, sua sponte, it lacks appellate jurisdiction.
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May 29, 2024
NEW YORK — A trademark infringement counterclaimant failed May 28 to persuade the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reinstate a dispute over “Now-Casting” and “Nowcast” with the appeals court concluding the appellant “utterly failed to proffer any evidence rebutting” a competitor’s showing that it was the first to use the trademarks.
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May 29, 2024
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in New Jersey committed no abuse of discretion in denying a motion for reconsideration of his January 2019 summary judgment holding that ordered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel two trademarks because the motion was untimely and without merit, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled May 28.
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May 29, 2024
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Filing a May 28 brief responding to a question certified to the Nevada Supreme Court by a federal judge, a tool company that licensed its trademark for use on a tool at the heart of a products liability suit asks the high court to find that strict liability applies under the apparent manufacturer doctrine only if a licensor is substantially involved with the product beyond merely providing the trademark.
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May 24, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A minority owner of a California winery on May 23 failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to direct the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to reinstate its petitions for cancellation of the “ALVAREDOS-HOBBS” and “HILLICK AND HOBBS” trademarks for use in connection with wine.
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May 22, 2024
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — As the comment period draws to a close on plans by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to raise fees in fiscal year 2025 on certain trademark applications, the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has weighed in with a warning that the proposal as written runs afoul of the primary system for international trademark registration.
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May 21, 2024
ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 20 affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that an insurer has a duty to defend its computer networking products reseller insured against an underlying trademark infringement lawsuit, noting that this does not resolve the issue of whether the insurer has a duty to indemnify, which will turn on the resolution of the underlying lawsuit.
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May 21, 2024
SAN FRANCISCO — Two online sellers of products that allegedly make an infringing use of the “Detoxify” trademark must defend their actions in court, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled May 20, reversing dismissal of the cases on jurisdiction grounds by two separate California federal judges.
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May 20, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 20 revealed that it will not weigh in on a finding by a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that a California court can exercise jurisdiction over a one-person company that has not operated in the Golden State since 2016.
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May 16, 2024
SAN FRANCISCO — Litigation between two sauce makers will proceed without preliminary injunctive relief in place, a federal judge in California has ruled, because the Thailand-based plaintiff, owner of the “SUNSAUCE” trademark, has not shown that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its allegation that a California company infringes with its “SON SAUCE” product.
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May 16, 2024
SAN FRANCISCO — A trial court erred in finding that the OpenAI mark acquired a secondary meaning with the release of its Dall-E website and before the release of the vastly more popular ChatGPT while ignoring analogous uses of the mark and that all the allegedly irreparable harm was speculative, a company tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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May 15, 2024
SEATTLE — A motion for judgment on the pleadings by Brooks Sports Inc. was partly granted May 14 when a federal judge in Washington ordered a purported trademark licensor to be joined to an infringement action initiated by a rival athletic footwear company.
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May 15, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trial court’s determination of whether there is a likelihood of confusion between two trademarks is due “great deference,” Grubhub Inc. tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari in a trademark dispute, representing that nothing about the case is noteworthy or in need of attention from the high court.
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May 14, 2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge refused to dismiss a video game streaming platform’s petition to confirm a JAMS award worth nearly $1.5 million against two German entities and their shareholder, the former CEO of the original award-debtor, and ordered further jurisdictional discovery to determine whether the court can exercise jurisdiction over the German defendants.
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May 14, 2024
NEW YORK — An artificial intelligence health care company named in honor of a word created by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein asked a federal judge in New York to dismiss counterclaims against it, saying courts lack jurisdiction over trademark applications and that the lone exception to the rule does not apply.
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May 13, 2024
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge granted a motion filed by rolling papers companies and ordered defendants found liable for trademark infringement to post a supersedeas bond worth more than $1.4 million pending their appeal of jury verdicts against them to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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May 10, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Lanham Act gives courts broad discretion to award disgorged profits to prevailing parties in trademark infringement suits, an engineering firm tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari by a firm that says a $43 million disgorgement award against it was improperly based on the profits of its affiliates, which are separate corporate entities.
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May 10, 2024
NEW YORK — In a summary order, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found no reversible error in the jury instructions given by a federal judge in New York assigned to oversee litigation over the signature stripe trademark owned by adidas America Inc.
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May 09, 2024
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on May 8 dissolved in part and revised in part her March 1 preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute between a bridal gown company and a former designer, upon finding that the plaintiff company “failed to carry its burden of demonstrating a clear or substantial likelihood of success in establishing that it was the original owner or transferee of” two social media accounts, extinguishing a “crucial element” of its claim for conversion.
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May 09, 2024
CINCINNATI — Findings by a Tennessee federal judge that his court lacks jurisdiction over an Arizona-based trademark infringement defendant were reversed May 8 by a divided Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said “longstanding precedent establishes that a company’s choice to welcome customers from and regularly sell products into a state subjects the company to that state’s jurisdiction.”
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May 07, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over the objection of appellant iFIT Inc., the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has remanded the fitness company’s appeal of its failed bid to block an application to register the “I-FIT FLEX” trademark in view of a concession by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s ruling was light on factual support, which the agency said could hamper appellate review.
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April 30, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 30 said it will not disturb a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that turned away an application to register the “#TODECACHO” trademark.
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April 30, 2024
CHICAGO — Allegations by the maker of a hand grip strengthener that the retail platform Temu sells counterfeit products bearing the “FitBeast” trademark were dismissed without prejudice on April 29 by a federal judge in Illinois, who said the accused conduct is not a use in commerce.