Prevailing defendants in a trademark dispute over the mark MEMORY LANE were not entitled to an award of attorney fees incurred in their successful defense, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held. A district court properly concluded that the case was not “exceptional” for purposes of the Lanham Act’s fee-shifting provision (Memory…
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…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a trial court’s ruling that JBLU, Inc. violated the Tariff Act of 1930 by importing jeans that were not properly marked with their country of origin (JBLU, Inc. v. United States, March 2, 2016, Moore, K.). Because the trial court erred in deferring to the…
On February 24, 2016, the General Court dismissed an action of the Coca-Cola Company and confirmed the decisions of OHIM and the Board of Appeal (case R 540/2013-2) by ruling that the known shape of the contour bottle of Coca-Cola without fluting lacks distinctive character and is thus not registerable as a 3D-Community trademark (GC…
The maker of Gibson-brand guitars could not go forward with claims that media conglomerate Viacom International secondarily infringed trademarks related to Gibson’s “Flying V” design by selling a ukulele with a V-shaped body and bearing Viacom’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” and Nickelodeon trademarks, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held (Gibson Brands, Inc. v….
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta affirmed a district court’s finding that Vito Antonio Laera violated a contempt order issued in a previous trademark infringement dispute with Blanco GmbH + Co. KG (Blanco GmbH + Co. KG v. Vlanco Industries, LLC, February 4, 2016, per curiam). A full summary of this case has been…
Florida businessman Steven S. West was liable for over $913,000 in damages for infringing a service mark held by Omaha-based construction and mining company Kiewit Sons’, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis has decided (Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc. v. Wall Street Equity Group, Inc., January 6, 2016, Kelly, J.). A federal district…
The Board of Directors of Sapphire Bay Condominiums West was unable to state Lanham Act claims against a disgruntled condominium owner who operated a website to complaint about the Board, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (The Board of Directors of Sapphire Bay Condominiums West v. Simpson, December 21, 2015, McKee, T.)….
An individual was in violation of a permanent injunction barring him from using BMW’s “MINI” trademarks in connection with an online store selling apparel bearing the brand name “Mini Works,” the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held. The court also affirmed an order amending the injunction to require the individual to transfer…
