The jury instruction improperly stated that the plaintiff was required to show willfulness for an award of profits. Jury instructions given during a trial over whether a whale-watching company and its affiliates violated the Lanham Act by engaging in materially false or misleading advertising about their business failed to recite the correct legal standard, the…
The Trademark Trail and Appeal Board erred in finding that there is no likelihood of confusion between Omaha Steaks International’s over two dozen registered marks, each containing the words “Omaha Steaks,” and Greater Omaha Packing Company’s applied for GREATER OMAHA PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY BEEF mark (the Opposed Mark), the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
A German company’s interactive website, through which it assisted customers with improving their software products, was sufficient to subject the company to federal personal jurisdiction for purposes of a trademark infringement suit brought by a Maine company that owned a federally registered mark, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has ruled. The German company…
The federal district court in Salt Lake City did not err in terminating Leland Sycamore’s rights under a trademark license agreement (TLA) that granted him the right to use the “Grandma Sycamore’s Home Maid Bread” and “Grandma Sycamore’s Home Maid Bread Design” trademarks (the Sycamore marks), or in the scope of a permanent injunction it…
Lanham Act claims for false advertising and trademark infringement brought by Sausage company Parks, asserting its PARKS mark for sausage against Tyson Foods and Hillshire Brands Company (collectively, Tyson), were without merit, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has decided, affirming a ruling by a federal district court. Parks did not state a valid…
The federal district court in Bowling Green, Kentucky, correctly held that a horse-race gambling platform (the “System”) developed by defendant Exacta Systems and used by defendant Kentucky Downs at its horse–racing track, did not infringe the trademarks owned by several plaintiff owners of horse-racing tracks when it displayed information, including the names of the plaintiffs’…
A federal district court in Los Angeles erred in concluding that Solid 21’s registered word mark RED GOLD was invalid because the mark was a generic term for jewelry items that were made of red gold, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has decided. The lower court erred in excluding testimony from Solid…
Without proof that Hoop Culture would be irreparably injured in the absence of its requested preliminary injunction enjoining clothing retailer Gap from infringing Hoop Culture’s “EAT…SLEEP…BALL.®” trademark, Hoop Culture was not entitled to its requested relief, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta has decided (Hoop Culture, Inc. v. Gap Inc., April 28, 2016, per…
The federal district court in West Palm Beach, Florida, did not commit reversible error in granting the operators of a complaint website, Brian Styles and Samantha Styles, summary judgment on claims under the Copyright Act, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), the Lanham Act, and state law brought by Dan Pronman and Gary Pronman, the…
