A few months back, I wrote about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to engage in some “whiskey business.” Now, after hearing Jack Daniels’s appeal, SCOTUS has ruled in favor of the whiskey brand by holding that trademark infringement is not precluded solely because the alleged infringement contains a comedic message. The Court found that VIP Products’ Bad Spaniels logo served as a trademark with source-identification functions and not merely as a parody mark, meaning that the mark must be examined under the likelihood of confusion inquiry required by the Trademark Act. This is a historic win for brand owners worldwide. For more background and detail on the this case, click here.
