Mealey's Trademarks
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August 08, 2024
Restaurants’ Lanham Act Claims Against Grubhub Largely Survive Dismissal Motion
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois said seven of nine restaurants who brought trademark violation claims in a putative class complaint against Grubhub Inc., alleging that the company included their names and logos on its food delivery app without the restaurants’ permission, failed to show that they have a protectible trademark interest, while the claims from the remaining two restaurants are adequately pleaded.
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August 05, 2024
Judge: No New Trademark Trial For Adidas Despite Withheld Discovery Emails
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge issued an opinion explaining in detail a May order in which he denied a motion from adidas America Inc. for a new trial in its trademark dispute with Thom Browne Inc., saying that adidas did not adequately show that newly discovered emails from Thom Browne suggesting the company was aware one of its designs could be infringing on adidas’ signature stripe design were likely to have changed the outcome of the trial.
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August 02, 2024
Parties To OpenAI Secondary Meaning Trademark Ruling Wrap Briefing
SAN FRANCISCO — Two entities battling over the rights to the Open AI trademark wrapped up briefing in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving a judge’s ruling finding that the mark acquired a secondary meaning with the release of OpenAI Inc.’s Dall-E website.
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August 01, 2024
1st Circuit Orders New Copyright Infringement Damages Trial For Guitar Maker
BOSTON — A panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new jury trial on the issue of infringing profits on a copyright claim brought by a guitar manufacturer who said a guitar seller used a copyrighted photo of guitar headstocks on its website, holding that a New Hampshire federal judge did not accurately explain the manufacturer’s burden of proof in jury instructions.
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August 01, 2024
3rd Circuit Holds Grocer’s Trademark Claims Over Imported Chocolate Milk Fail
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 31 upheld a New Jersey federal judge’s decision to deny an Indian food grocery company’s motion for default judgment against alleged infringers of its mark on chocolate milk powder, holding that the company showed only unauthorized sales, not trademark infringement.
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July 31, 2024
Summary Judgment Granted In Trademark Fight Between Tourism Training Companies
PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona held that a defendant tourism hospitality company did not infringe on a competitor’s mark because the plaintiff tourism company did not demonstrate valid ownership over the phrase “tourism academy,” partly granting the defendant company’s motion for summary judgment.
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July 29, 2024
Judge: Trade Secret Claims Against TikTok In Copyright Case Adequately Established
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on July 26 denied a request from TikTok Inc. and affiliated entities to compel a China-based company to state with particularity its trade secret source code it says TikTok infringes upon, saying the company included the trade secrets in its complaint with the requisite particularity; the judge’s order was issued days after a previous order in which the judge dismissed a false advertising claim against TikTok with prejudice.
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July 29, 2024
Judge Orders Cosmetics Company To Pay For More Depositions In Trademark Dispute
SAN FRANCISCO — A cosmetics company that asserts trademark and trade dress infringement of its mascara product by another cosmetics manufacturer will be allowed to conduct additional depositions to mitigate the prejudice caused by the defendant company belatedly disclosing expert witnesses’ functionality theories about the mascara brush trade dress that should have been included in discovery, a federal judge in California held.
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July 25, 2024
Judge Denies Fees In Copyright, Trade Secret Dispute Between Bronx Music Schools
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied a request by a music school and its founder for reimbursement of the attorney fees they incurred in successfully defending allegations of copyright infringement, unfair competition and trade secret misappropriation, overruling objections from the school and its founder that a federal magistrate judge erred in recommending that the motion be denied.
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July 25, 2024
9th Circuit: Federal Judge Improperly Analyzed Candy Distributors’ Trademark Fight
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 24 partly reversed a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in a trademark dispute between two candy distributors, holding that the judge erred in determining that the plaintiff distributor failed to properly notify the defendant distributor that its allegations included the use of the mark “CANDY-GRAM,” leading the judge to improperly analyze the genericness only of the mark “CANDYGRAM” without a hyphen.
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July 24, 2024
Majority Of UGG Patent And Trade Dress Claims Will Continue In N.Y. Federal Court
NEW YORK — The designer of UGG brand footwear successfully pleaded the majority of its claims against a rival company that is allegedly infringing upon its design patents and trade dress, a New York federal judge found in partly granting the rival companies’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
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July 23, 2024
Gibson Seeks Rehearing After 5th Circuit Orders New Trial In Trademark Fight
NEW ORLEANS — One of two electric guitar manufacturers involved in a trademark dispute filed on July 22 petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that a Fifth Circuit panel eschewed U.S. Supreme Court precedent when holding that a Texas federal judge abused his discretion when he excluded decades of evidence regarding third-party use of the trademarks.
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July 22, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Allows Rebuttal Witness In Trademark Infringement Dispute
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge rejected efforts to exclude a rebuttal witness retained to dispute another expert who opines on the likelihood of confusion between trademarks owned by competing aftermarket wheel manufacturers.
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July 22, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Remedies In Trademark Fight Over Airplane Parts
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Pennsylvania federal judge’s decision to award only a narrow portion of the damages requested by an engine part manufacturer that saw its trademark infringed by an engine manufacturer that used to buy its parts, holding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion when considering damages.
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July 22, 2024
5th Circuit Rejects Appliance Store’s Bid To Reconsider Fees In Trademark Dispute
NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 19 without comment rejected an appliance store’s request to reconsider its finding that it was owed no attorney fees even though the panel held that the store’s trademark on “Appliance Liquidation Outlet” was infringed by a competitor.
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July 17, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Liability Finding In Cosmetics Counterfeiting Case
SAN FRANCSCIO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 16 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that a man is personally liable for trademark counterfeiting in a case accusing him and a corporation he controlled of selling counterfeited beauty products, finding that there is no basis for the man’s argument that the products were being sold by a legal entity separate from him.
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July 17, 2024
Federal Judge: Trademark Claims Over Social Media Giant’s Use Of ‘X’ Can Continue
ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida largely denied a motion to dismiss from the company formerly known as Twitter Inc., finding that a much smaller social media advertising company adequately supported its claims that the social media giant infringed on its “X SOCIALMEDIA” trademark when it rebranded to X Corp. after being purchased by Elon Musk.
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July 16, 2024
Judge: Therabody’s Trademark Infringement Claims All Survive Dismissal Motion
NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey denied a motion to dismiss filed by a store sued for alleged trademark infringement by the maker of percussive massage devices, finding that the manufacturer’s complaint adequately alleges that the store sold the devices without the manufacturer’s permission and without first entering into a reselling agreement.
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July 15, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Brewery’s Trademark Suit Definite Enough To Survive Motion
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A distillery has more than enough information to formulate a response to a brewery’s claims that the distillery infringed on the brewery’s trademarks related to the 21st Amendment, a federal magistrate judge in Florida said, recommending that the distillery’s motion for a more definite statement be denied.
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July 11, 2024
3rd Circuit Reverses Attorney Fees Against Nike In ‘Cool Compression’ Mark Row
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of judges in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 10 upheld findings that Nike Inc. willfully infringed upon a much smaller clothing brand’s “Cool Compression” trademark but held that a Pennsylvania federal judge assigned too much weight to the “David and Goliath” nature of the case when determining attorney fees.
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July 10, 2024
Maker Of Body-Contouring Devices Gets Default Judgment In Patent And Trademark Row
NEW YORK — The manufacturer of body-contouring machines is entitled to default judgment and damages on its claims of patent infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition brought against a salon that advertises nearly identical machines because it properly alleged and substantiated its claims, a New York federal judge found in granting the manufacturer’s motion for default judgment.
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July 09, 2024
Appliance Store In Trademark Fight Says 5th Circuit Wrongly Reversed Fees
NEW ORLEANS — An appliance store that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held had its trademark on “Appliance Liquidation Outlet” infringed filed a petition for panel rehearing on a narrow aspect of the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, arguing that the panel majority was incorrect to reverse the award of attorney fees in the store’s favor.
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July 09, 2024
5th Circuit Orders New Trial In Trademark Dispute Over Guitar Shapes
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 8 held that a Texas federal judge abused his discretion in a trademark infringement dispute between electric guitar manufacturers by excluding decades of evidence regarding third-party use of the trademarks, ordering a new trial in the case.
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July 05, 2024
5th Circuit: Lower Court Misapplied Summary Judgment Standard In Trademark Row
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Texas inappropriately granted summary judgment to a defendant hotel and restaurant group in an infringement dispute over the use of the phrase “Summer House” in a trademark, a panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, finding that the judge misapplied the summary judgment standard by failing to consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
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July 02, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Use Of Consumer Survey In Trademark Dispute
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California did not abuse discretion by admitting a likelihood-of-confusion survey as expert evidence in a jury trial that ultimately found no likelihood of confusion between two trademarks used by business financing companies, a panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held July 1, affirming the grant of final judgment in the defendant company’s favor.