In a trademark infringement suit between two packing companies over rights in the name “PAKSTER,” the federal district court in Waterloo, Iowa, lacked jurisdiction to cancel two federal trademark registrations fraudulently obtained by defendant PI, Inc., because its rival, East Iowa Plastics, Inc., (“EIP”) failed to established that it suffered any damages as a result…
The federal district court in Sacramento properly determined that an individual (Scott R. Smith) lacked standing to challenge two Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decisions dismissing Smith’s petitions to cancel trademark registrations owned by Entrepreneur Media, Inc. (“EMI”), the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has decided in a nonprecedential summary ruling (Smith v….
Slep-Tone Entertainment Corp. and its successor in interest, Phoenix Entertainment Partners LLC (collectively, “Slep-Tone”), failed to plausibly allege consumer confusion in its trademark infringement and unfair competition claims against an Illinois pub and its owner, who allegedly made unauthorized copies of Slep-Tone’s karaoke files and passed them off as genuine Slep-Tone tracks, the U.S. Court…
In a trademark infringement action brought by manufacturers and sellers of “SunEarth”-branded solar thermal collectors and related components against a China-based manufacturer of photovoltaic cells for large-scale utility companies, Sun Earth Solar Power Co., Ltd., and its U.S. affiliate, NBSolar USA, Inc. (collectively, “SESP”), a federal district court did not abuse its discretion by granting…
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…
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….
