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Mealey's Trademarks

  • 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.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Stands By Refusal To Dismiss Chicago Cubs Trademark Claims Against Bar

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge told a Chicago rooftop bar and its owner that she would not reconsider a January order denying the bar and owner’s motion to dismiss a trademark infringement complaint brought by the Chicago Cubs Baseball Club LLC; the judge also denied the defendants’ request to stay the case and compel arbitration.

  • April 16, 2025

    6th Circuit: No Coverage Owed For Trademark Infringement Suit Against Pharmacy

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of insurers in a pharmacist insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying trademark infringement and false advertising claims brought by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, finding that one policy’s professional services exclusion barred coverage and the other policy was not triggered because the underlying lawsuit was not brought by “natural persons.”

  • April 15, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Appeal Of Man’s Challenge To Football Team’s Royal Mark

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Vermont man who sought to cancel the New Orleans Louisiana Saints LLC’s trademark on a fleur-de-lis design lacked standing to appeal the dismissal of his petition, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said April 14.

  • April 15, 2025

    Brewer Can’t Use ‘Chicken Scratch’ For Beer, Federal Circuit Affirms

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A brewing company cannot use the mark “Chicken Scratch” in connection with beer after a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 14 affirmed a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision rejecting the company’s application for a trademark registration; the panel said the TTAB did not err when analyzing the proposed mark’s similarity to a restaurant company’s mark on the same phrase.

  • April 11, 2025

    Judgment Entered For Nonprofit In Trademark Row Involving Website, Advertisements

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Having been advised that the parties reached an agreement to settle the case, a Florida federal judge entered final judgment for a nonprofit Florida health care company that sued an operator of Florida post-acute care and skilled nursing facilities for trademark infringement, granting a permanent injunction due to evidence of confusion between the two entities and enjoining the operator from engaging in trademark infringement, including in advertising and on its website.

  • April 11, 2025

    11th Circuit: No Fees For Tossed IP Claims In Land Purchase Dispute

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel left in place a jury’s finding that defendant real estate entities breached a land purchase agreement (LPA) but owed a plaintiff real estate company only $1 in damages; the panel also affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to the plaintiff company for claims brought under the Copyright Act and the Lanham Act.

  • April 10, 2025

    9th Circuit Agrees: Both Sides Of ‘Smarter’ Mark Row Come Up Short

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 9 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to reject all claims and counterclaims in a trademark dispute over the word “Smarter” in relation to nutritional products, agreeing with the judge that neither party had shown that it had a protectible mark in the first place.

  • April 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB Decision In Online Voter Guide Mark Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said April 9 that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was right to reject a voting guide company’s opposition to proposed trademarks sought by a similar entity, agreeing that the appellant company’s own marks could not be shown to be distinctive enough for trademark protection.

  • April 09, 2025

    Judge Dismisses ‘Blade Runner’ IP Suit Against Tesla, Others With Leave To Amend

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed with leave to amend an independent film studio’s complaint against Tesla Inc., Elon Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., after issuing a tentative holding that the company adequately suggested for the purpose of surviving a dismissal motion that Tesla and Musk may have infringed upon copyrights related to the 2017 film “Blade Runner 2049” while promoting Tesla’s planned “cybercab” product.

  • April 08, 2025

    5th Circuit: Injunction In Honor Society Trademark Fight Wrongly Bars Speech

    NEW ORLEANS — A Mississippi federal judge’s preliminary injunction order compelling a community college honor society to include a disclaimer on its website notifying visitors of ongoing trademark litigation violated the society’s free speech rights, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 7.