Mealey's Trademarks
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September 19, 2024
5th Circuit Agrees Art Education Company Did Not Infringe On Artist’s Work
NEW ORLEANS — A Texas federal judge rightly held that that a company selling art kits to students during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic did not infringe on an artist’s work by basing elements of the product on a series of dog paintings, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 18, determining that the fair use defense applied.
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September 18, 2024
2nd Circuit: No Jurisdictional Issues In American Girl’s Trademark Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York was wrong to hold that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over a Chinese company accused by dollmaker American Girl LLC of selling counterfeited products, a panel of judges in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held on Sept. 17; the panel said American Girl adequately showed that the Chinese company sold the alleged counterfeits in New York.
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September 17, 2024
Judge Orders Wind-Down Of Use Of Infringing Mark In Trademark Dispute
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted a plaintiff advertising company’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring defendant advertising firms from using marks that the plaintiff says infringe on its word mark “MARS”; the judge gave the defendant companies six months to wind down their use of the allegedly offending marks.
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September 16, 2024
Company Agrees To Drop References To Lilly Drugs In Compound Medication Ads
DENVER — Eli Lilly and Co. and HydraMed IV LLC have reached a settlement to end a trademark infringement dispute, with the mobile IV treatment company HydraMed agreeing to a permanent injunction barring the company from advertising or selling compounded medications that lead consumers to believe that they are generic versions of Lilly’s weight loss medications.
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September 12, 2024
Federal Judge Enjoins Trump Campaign From Further Uses Of Soul Song
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia on Sept. 11 partially granted a motion from the estate of a songwriter and the company that manages his works to bar former President Donald J. Trump and associated entities from using a soul tune from the 1960s at future campaign appearances, but the judge held that the estate and the company are not harmed by videos of the song being used at past campaign stops.
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September 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Bar Nonprofit From Using Contested Trademark In Economic Report
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a plaintiff nonprofit organization’s bid for a temporary restraining order against another nonprofit organization, saying “there are significant questions regarding ownership” of the trademark LATINO GDP, which the plaintiff organization claims to own.
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September 11, 2024
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Oppose Midjourney’s Request For Trade Dress Clarification
SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence image copyright suit told a court its ruling on several motions to dismiss already rejected AI creator Midjourney Inc.’s arguments, leaving nothing to address in the company’s motion for the court to clarify what “concrete elements” are in the plaintiffs’ trade dress.
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September 11, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Tosses Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Word ‘Chipotle’
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio dismissed a man’s trademark infringement suit against a food manufacturing company, holding that the company did not infringe the man’s registered trademarks on phrases related to a type of pepper in salsas because the company used the words descriptively without a risk of confusion with the man’s products.
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September 03, 2024
Judge: Competing Rum Maker Can Intervene In Bacardi’s Fight With Trademark Office
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia granted an unopposed motion to allow a rum manufacturer to act as an intervenor in a case brought by its competitor against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) on claims that the office inappropriately allowed the company to renew a trademark a decade after its expiration.
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August 29, 2024
6th Circuit Largely Upholds Preliminary Injunction In Libertarians’ Trademark Row
CINCINNATI — A panel of judges in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 28 largely affirmed a Michigan federal judge’s preliminary injunction barring a group within the Libertarian Party of Michigan from using a party trademark during a succession dispute after party leadership departures, but the panel held that the group can use the mark to solicit donations online where the difference between the warring factions is adequately described.
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August 28, 2024
Federal Judge: Plaintiff Clothing Brand Unlikely To Prevail In Trademark Fight
CLEVELAND — A federal judge in Ohio granted a defendant clothing designer’s motion for a preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute over a reference to a 2000s comedy film, enjoining a plaintiff clothier from further attempts at contacting social media companies to take down the defendant company’s accounts without the court’s approval; the judge said the defendant company substantiated the likelihood that it would succeed in showing that there was no infringement.
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August 26, 2024
3rd Circuit: No Fees Due In Trade Dress Dispute Over Whiteboards
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 23 upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge’s denial of attorney fees to the defendant company in a trade dress dispute between two school material manufacturers, agreeing that the case did not reach the level of exceptionality required by the Lanham Act for attorney fees to be recoverable.
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August 26, 2024
Federal Judge: Artist’s Trademark, Copyright Claims Against Amazon Largely Survive
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge in California partly denied a motion from Amazon.com Inc. to dismiss a complaint brought against it by an artist, holding that the artist adequately established that the defendant infringed upon his trademarks by selling counterfeited works, but noted that the artist conceded that he failed to establish other elements of his claims.
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August 23, 2024
Federal Judge: No Preliminary Injunction In Trademark Row Between Film Fests
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied the second motion for preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute brought by the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York against the owner of another South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, holding that the plaintiff owner failed to adequately establish a substantial likelihood that he would prevail on his claims.
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August 21, 2024
Federal Judge Holds Most Counterclaims Survive In Trademark Infringement Suit
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 20 allowed to stand most counterclaims brought by a defendant company in against a plaintiff company that accused it of trademark infringement through allegedly unauthorized sales of computers through Amazon; the judge dismissed a false advertising counterclaim, finding that the defendant company failed to show how take-down requests made to Amazon amounted to false advertising statements made to customers.
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August 20, 2024
7th Circuit: Extortionist Failed To Show Ownership Over Celebrity Photos
CHICAGO — A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed an Illinois federal judge’s dismissal of a copyright claim brought by a former actor and convicted extortionist against multiple news outlets, agreeing that the man failed to show that he had copyright ownership of photographs of him appearing with multiple celebrities published by the outlets after his arrest.
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August 16, 2024
Federal Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction In E-Cigarette Trademark Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to issue a preliminary injunction against a Chinese e-cigarette manufacturer and its American wholesalers in a trademark and patent dispute brought by an American e-cigarette maker, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the judge did not adequately consider the Chinese company’s argument that the American manufacturer did not have a valid claim to the contested mark because it did not seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its product.
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August 15, 2024
Guitar Seller Says 1st Circuit Wrongly Ordered New Trial In Copyright Case
BOSTON — A guitar seller who was accused of copyright infringement by a guitar manufacturer that said it used a copyrighted photo of guitar headstocks on its website filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc after a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ordered a new trial in a New Hampshire federal court, arguing that the panel widened a circuit split over what standard a court can use to determine the relationship between alleged infringement and subsequent revenue.
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August 15, 2024
Judge Says Some AI Copyright Claims Survive In Visual Arts Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — An amended complaint permissibly adds claims and defendants, and while some of those claims are unsuccessful, copyright claims against DeviantArt, Stability AI Ltd. and others survive, thanks in part to new allegations of improper copying of works to train artificial intelligence, a federal judge in California said in partially granting motions to dismiss.
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August 15, 2024
4th Circuit: Wireless Carrier Shows It Intended To Begin Reusing Trademark
RICHMOND, Va. — A panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in a trademark dispute in favor of defendant wireless communications company T-Mobile US Inc., holding that plaintiff company Simply Wireless Inc. had raised a genuine question of material fact as to whether it had abandoned its use of the contested “SIMPLY PREPAID” mark.
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August 13, 2024
5th Circuit Revives Chef’s Trademark Claims Against Purchasers Of His Restaurant
NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 12 partly revived a trademark infringement suit brought by a Texas chef against a group of entities he claimed infringed upon his trademarks after the end of a licensing agreement, finding that a federal judge in Texas erred by determining that the chef had failed to state a claim.
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August 13, 2024
2nd Circuit: Judge Correct To Deny Vacatur Of 2011 Trademark Dispute Settlement
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York correctly denied a request from a series of companies to vacate a 2011 issuance of judgment in a trademark infringement case because a settlement in the case was allegedly built upon a fraudulent document, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the lower court judge that the companies had ample opportunity to discover the alleged fraud when it occurred.
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August 12, 2024
Judge: No Deadline Extension In AI Company’s Battle Over Sci Fi-Based Name
NEW YORK — A 10-day delay in the holding of a settlement conference does not warrant a months-long extension of several case deadlines, and any failure to conduct discovery and settlement negotiations simultaneously as requested by the court lies with the parties, a federal judge in New York said in a trademark infringement case involving a dispute between an artificial intelligence chipmaker and a health care company it accuses of poaching its science fiction-based moniker.
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August 12, 2024
11th Circuit: No Fees In Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Florida’s Outline In Logos
ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 9 affirmed a Florida federal magistrate judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a company that prevailed in a trademark infringement case over a restaurant it said infringed its trademarked logo designs, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the case does not reach the “exceptional” level required for attorney fees under the Lanham Act.
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August 12, 2024
Panel: Knowing Violation Of Rights Exclusion Relieves Insurers Of Duty To Defend
BOSTON — A Massachusetts appeals court affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of insurers in a coverage dispute arising from underlying trademark infringement and other claims brought against insureds, finding that the policy’s knowing violation of the rights of another relieved the insurers of their duty to defend.