On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., limited the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act. The majority opinion was written by Justice Alito and joined by Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Jackson, and Kavanaugh.
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Not Funny! Unanimous SCOTUS in Jack Daniel’s v. VIP Holds That Parody Does Not Implicate First Amendment Concerns, But Only Implicates Likelihood of Confusion
On June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously decided the trademark parody case captioned Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC in favor of Jack Daniel’s, and against the dog toy manufacturer and serial parodist VIP Products. 599 U.
SCOTUS: Social Media Companies Not Liable For Aiding And Abetting ISIS
In Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, the Supreme Court unanimously held that social media companies are not liable for aiding and abetting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in its terrorist acts that victims claimed resulted from promoting terrorist
Does Transformative Matter? No, At Least Where Use Is Commercial
Art. Money. Copyright. Fair use. Andy Warhol. And Prince, the Purple One. (Or in this case, Orange.)
These were the hot topics in the recently decided Supreme Court case of Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith
SCOTUS Oral Arguments in Abitron v. Hetronic: Extraterritorial Reach of Lanham Act
On March 31, 2023, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., where at issue is whether the Tenth Circuit erred in applying the Lanham Act extraterritorially to Abitron’s foreign sales, including purely foreign sales
Cert. Granted in Abitron to Clarify Boundaries for Extraterritorial Application of Lanham Act
In Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., Oklahoma-based Hetronic, maker of radio remote controls for heavy-duty construction equipment, sued its former distributor Abitron (from Austria) for selling copycat products, as illustrated below.
The district court found that Abitron had
Does Anyone Here Have A Sense Of Humor, Redux: Jack Daniel’s v. VIP Oral Argument
On March 22, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the trademark parody case captioned Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC. As we previously blogged, the issues presented in the care are:
1. Whether humorous use
Does Anyone Here Have A Sense Of Humor, Redux: Jack Daniel’s v. VIP Oral Argument
On March 22, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the trademark parody case captioned Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC. As we previously blogged, the issues presented in the care are:
1. Whether humorous use
Certiorari Granted to Jack Daniel’s with Respect to Parody Dog Toy: Does Anyone Here Have a Sense of Humor, and Does it Matter?
On November 21, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari on the following questions described in Jack Daniel’s petition:
Respondent VIP Products LLC markets and sells dog toys that trade on the brand recognition of famous companies such as petitioner Jack
TTAB Sustains WIRED Magazine’s § 2(d) Objection to Application to Register “WIRED” As A Mark for Clothing, But Not for Fitness Services
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) sustained the objection of the publisher of the tech magazine WIRED (“Opposer”) to an Applicant’s (“Applicant”) bid to register the term “WIRED” for clothing but rejected its objection for fitness-related services.
The Applicant