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Mealey's Trademarks

  • June 11, 2025

    11th Circuit Revives Georgia Park’s Trademark Claims Against Foreign IP Holder

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia applied an overly strict standard when determining if a company based in the British Virgin Islands had sufficient contacts with the United States for the purposes of establishing personal jurisdiction in a dispute over the registered trademark “Summer Waves,” a panel in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held June 10.

  • June 04, 2025

    Judge Tosses Cybersquatting Claim From Trademark Row Over ‘Perplexity’ Name

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a cybersquatting claim against Perplexity AI Inc. in a trademark infringement dispute brought against it by a smaller data analytics company, finding that the plaintiff company failed to establish a required showing of bad faith use of the mark on the artificial intelligence company’s part.

  • June 03, 2025

    Judge Orders Pesticide Company To Provide More Answers In IP Discovery Dispute

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio federal magistrate judge on June 2 ordered plaintiff pesticide manufacturers identify with specificity the protectible elements of two copyrights they say were infringed by a defendant pesticide manufacturer, granting the defendant company’s motion to compel discovery in which the company accused the plaintiff entities of responding to questions about the copyrights with “evasive” answers.

  • June 03, 2025

    Federal Magistrate Says Conduct Warrants Case-Ending Sanctions In Trademark Fight

    AUSTIN, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas recommended that the chief operating officer of a plastics company be given terminating sanctions for his failure to turn over his cell phone and computer for examination in a trademark infringement suit brought by Yeti Coolers LLC.

  • June 03, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Certiorari To Tire Company In Trade Dress, Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 2 denied a tire corporation’s petition for a writ of certiorari, turning down the company’s request that it consider what it called the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ expansion of Illinois’ absolute litigation privilege in its ruling on trade dress and patent claims brought by another tire company.

  • June 02, 2025

    Nurse Testing Material Firm Opposes AI Copyright, Trademark Dismissal

    LOS ANGELES — A nursing test preparation company opposing summary judgment tells a federal judge in California that copyright covers its presentation of factual data and that the sale and use of its materials to train artificial intelligence constitutes infringement.

  • June 02, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Injunction Denial In ‘Alien’ Vape Mark Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s denial of a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement case, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that the defendant vaporizer manufacturers’ alien-themed cannabis marks were likely to be confused with his alien-themed vaporizer marks.

  • May 28, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Law Firm’s Challenge To Ad-Buying Trademark Opinion

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 27 decided that it would not hear a law firm’s challenge to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a judge’s finding that a defendant law firm’s purchasing of a competitor’s trademark in Google keyword ads was not trademark infringement, turning away the plaintiff-petitioner’s contention that the Ninth Circuit’s likelihood-of-confusion analysis conflicts with that used in other circuits.

  • May 23, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Collector Lacked Standing To Oppose Proposed Doll Trademark

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A doll collector lacked standing to oppose a company’s application for a registered trademark on the name “Rapunzel” for use with dolls, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held May 22, agreeing with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that the collector’s alleged harm was “too remote to support a reasonable belief in injury.”

  • May 22, 2025

    Federal Circuit: French Word For Clothing Generic For Trademark Use

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 21 affirmed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s rejection of a proposed trademark on the French word for clothing, agreeing with both the trademark examiner and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that the marks were generic as defined in the Lanham Act as per the doctrine of foreign equivalents.

  • May 20, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Preliminary Injunction In French Fry Mark Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to impose a preliminary injunction in a dispute over the ownership of trademarks associated with a french fry company in the Philippines, holding that the defendant-appellant company failed to show that the plaintiff entity was unlikely to succeed on the merits.

  • May 16, 2025

    Magistrate Grants Discovery Motion In Trademark Row Involving Web-Based Retailers

    DENVER — A Colorado magistrate judge granted a fencing company’s motion for leave to conduct jurisdictional discovery in its trademark infringement suit against web-based retailers, finding that the jurisdictional discovery information sought is necessary for the court to determine whether it has personal jurisdiction over the defendants.

  • May 16, 2025

    Federal Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction In ‘Breeze’ Vape Mark Case

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan preliminarily enjoined a vape product company from selling products bearing a mark with the word “breeze,” holding that plaintiff Breeze Smoke LLC adequately illustrated the likelihood of its success on the merits of its trademark infringement claims.

  • May 15, 2025

    Judge Stays Discovery In ‘Miss Cleo’ IP Fight While Mulling Dismissal

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge held that defendant television networks illustrated that there was adequate reason to stay discovery while the court considers a motion to dismiss intellectual property claims related to the television psychic character “Miss Cleo”; the judge held that the Psychic Readers Network Inc. (PRN) failed to show that it would be prejudiced by the stay of discovery.

  • May 14, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Attorney Fees Valid Under Lanham Act In Robotics Company Squabble

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge correctly dismissed one contract claim but was wrong to dismiss another in a dispute involving the intellectual property rights of two robotics ventures and an early investor whose relationship with the ventures later soured, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • May 12, 2025

    6th Circuit Affirms Judge’s Dismissal Of Trademark Suit Over Word ‘Chipotle’

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said May 9 that an Ohio federal judge rightly dismissed a man’s trademark infringement suit against a food manufacturing company, agreeing with the judge that the man failed to state a claim of trademark infringement regarding marks he held on phrases related to chipotle peppers in salsas.

  • May 12, 2025

    Tire Company: High Court Must Consider Question Of Illinois Litigation Privilege

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A tire corporation emphasized in a brief that the U.S. Supreme Court should grant its petition for a writ of certiorari, saying that an opinion from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “expanded Illinois’ traditionally narrow absolute litigation privilege beyond what any other court applying Illinois law has ever done” in its consideration of trade dress and patent claims brought against the company by another tire entity based in Japan.

  • May 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit: TTAB Right To Affirm ‘Space Force’ Mark Rejection

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 7 affirmed a decision from the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to uphold the rejection of an attorney’s application for the mark US SPACE FORCE, which came only days after President Donald J. Trump’s 2018 initial public proposals of the military branch, which was subsequently formally created.

  • May 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Appellants Could Face Sanctions In IP Fight For Faulty Briefing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys for two companies that appealed nearly $4 million in judgments against them in a decade-long intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains could face sanctions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a sua sponte order, if they cannot show how they have not repeatedly violated circuit rules by inappropriately separating arguments between the companies’ respective briefs.

  • May 07, 2025

    8th Circuit Won’t Reverse Noninfringement Finding In Website Building Suit

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the findings of a Missouri federal judge and a federal jury in a sprawling dispute over copyrighted code between two companies owned by members of the same family, along with multiple veterinary companies whose websites were built by a defendant printing company; the panel agreed with the judge’s decision to find in favor of the defendants on copyright infringement claims.

  • May 06, 2025

    TTAB Rightly Denied Trade Dress Bid For Glove Color, Federal Circuit Finds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was no error in the decision of an examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to reject a company’s proposed mark registration, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with a determination from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that the company’s proposed color mark for medical gloves is generic.

  • May 02, 2025

    Damages In Rolling Paper Trademark Row Reasonable, 11th Circuit Says

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s decision to enter nearly $1.2 million in damages against defendant entities in a trademark dispute over tobacco rolling papers, noting both that the damages fell within the statutory standard and that the defendant entities did not object to jury instructions regarding damages.

  • April 30, 2025

    7th Circuit Affirms Jury’s Findings, Judge’s Injunction In Rolling Paper IP Fight

    CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a jury’s mixed verdict in an intellectual property dispute between two tobacco companies related to cigarette rolling papers made of hemp, which led to cross-appeals; the panel rejected arguments from the parties that a federal judge erred in responding to a question from jurors and that the judge’s injunction was overly broad.

  • April 23, 2025

    High Court Rejects Fee Petition From Company Liable For Counterfeits

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear arguments from a distribution company and the man who controls it, who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold the entry of attorney fees against them in a trademark infringement suit; the petitioners were found liable for selling counterfeited beauty products.

  • April 22, 2025

    Motion To Compel Granted In Trademark Row Involving Health Care Fraudster

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge on April 21 granted a pharmaceutical company’s motion to compel in a Lanham Act trademark infringement case, seeking documents related to fee arrangement between defense counsel and his client, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a related case, finding in part that “the requested information is relevant” because plaintiffs in Lanham Act suits may recover a defendant’s profits.