Levi Strauss’s Trademark and Domain Name Claims May Block Unauthorized Resales — Levi Strauss v. Papikian
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Levi Strauss & Co v. Papikian Enterprises, C 10-05051 JSW (N.D. Cal.; Aug. 24, 2011) [pdf] Facts: Levi Strauss owns trademarks for “Levi’s,” “501” and other terms. It sells its products directly and to authorized retailers…
Newspaper’s Discussion About Trademark Owner Protected as Nominative Use–1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik
By Eric Goldman 1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik, 2:11-cv-00505-ODW -E (C.D. Cal. July 25, 2011) I’m sure any trademark experts reading this post are scratching their heads at the blog post title. Newspapers discussing a trademarked product qualify for…
Social Media Marketing Is Relevant to Trademark Confusion Analysis–Quia v. Mattel
By Eric Goldman Quia Corp. v. Mattel, Inc., 2011 WL 2749576 (N.D.Cal. July 14, 2011) Both parties offer educational games under the brand “IXL” (presumably a homophone for “I excel”). The parties dispute who came first. Mattel sought a determination…
Coventry First Withdraws Twittersquatting Lawsuit Against @Coventryfirst — Coventry First, LLC v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Coventry First, LLC v. Does, 11-cv-03700-JS (voluntarily dismissed) I previously posted about Coventry First’s lawsuit against the operator of the @coventryfirst Twitter account. (“Trademark Owner Sues Over Alleged Twittersquatting–Coventry First, LLC v. Does.”) I did not…
“Recent and Future Developments in Trademark Law” Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman Last month, I spoke with Mark Lemley and Peter Menell at a Silicon Valley IP Law Association dinner event designed to be a “year-in-review” of IP. I spoke on trademark law. My talk slides. To avoid the…
“App Store” Isn’t Generic, But Apple Can’t Enforce Its Purported Trademark in the Term–Apple v. Amazon
By Eric Goldman Apple, Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., 2011 WL 2638191 (N.D. Cal. July 6, 2011) Apple’s enforcement campaign over the term “App Store” is ridiculous. Apple is trying to prop up a farcically weak trademark claim–and to what end?…
June 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & Trademark Edition)
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Good news: the US government is funding alternative networks that dissidents can use to communicate when the Internet is censored by repressive regimes. Bad news: the US government is teaching the rest of the world…
A Century of Trademark Law: Looking Back and Looking Forward (Notes from my INTA Annual Meeting Talk)
By Eric Goldman At the INTA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May, I spoke on a panel with Miles Alexander of Kilpatrick Townsend and The Rt Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, now a professor at University College London. The…
Advertiser Fails in Suit Against Trademark Owner over Google Trademark Complaint–Pandora Jewelers v. Pandora Jewelry
By Eric Goldman Pandora Jewelers 1995, Inc. v. Pandora Jewelry LLC, 2011 WL 2174012 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2011) The plaintiff is a long-time single-storefront jewelry retailer in Florida (in a strip mall, naturally) with an e-commerce website. Pandora Jewelry,…
Trademark Owner Sues Over Alleged Twittersquatting–Coventry First, LLC v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Coventry First, LLC v. Does, 11-cv-03700-JS (complaint filed June 7, 2011) The last big tussle over twittersquatting, and infringement through use of a trademark or name in a twitter handle was between Tony La Russa and…