What Color is Your Protest?
An Arab anti-settlement political party used an orange color to protest Israeli settlements. Then, some Jewish nationalist political groups have adopted the same orange shade to show support for the Israeli settlements. Fortunately, rather than taking more extreme measures, the…
What Happens in Nastygrams…
Steve Middlebrook passed along this story about the slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Dorothy Tovar liked the phrase so much, she put it on T-shirts and registered a trademark in it. Then, she got the nasty letter…
Important 2d Circuit Adware Case–1-800 Contacts v. WhenU
1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. WhenU.com, Inc., Docket Nos. 04-0026-cv and 04-0446-cv (2d Cir. June 27, 2005). Overshadowed by yesterday’s Grokster mania, the Second Circuit finally issued an important ruling about WhenU’s liability for trademark infringement. The court found that WhenU…
Cybersquatter’s Press Release: “Please Sue Me”
If you’re a cybersquatter, one of the dumbest things you can do is issue a press release describing how you plan to make a lot of money on 23,000 different domain names that are variations of famous trademarks. Apparently subscribing…
Initial Interest Confusion Talk
I spoke yesterday about the initial interest confusion doctrine at the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago. My slides. I also updated my summarized list of initial interest confusion cases.
Federal Circuit Refuses to Register Pennzoil’s Clear Motor Oil Bottle as a Trademark
By John Ottaviani I tend to like “non-traditional” trademarks, such as color, sound, buildings, furniture designs, etc. So while we are “waiting for Grokster,” I note that the Federal Circuit recently affirmed, per curium, the 2004 decision by the Trademark…
AWOL Opinions
While we are on Grokster watch, I also have been thinking of two opinions that seem to have disappeared into the void: * Second Circuit opinion in 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU. The district court ruled in December 2003, the parties…
New Reality TV Show IP Case
RDF Media Ltd. v. Fox Broadcasting Co., 74 USPQ2d 1769 (C.D. Cal. May 11, 2005) [BNA subscription required]. The producers of “Wife Swap UK” sued Fox for its “Trading Spouses” TV show, alleging copyright infringement and direct/contributory trade dress misappropriation….
Trademark Adjacency Presentation
I’m giving a talk at Law & Society Association’s annual meeting this Thursday in Las Vegas called “Trademark Adjacency.” A preview of my slides.
New Gripe Site Case–Faegre & Benson v. Purdy
Faegre & Benson v. Purdy, Civil File No. 03-6472 (D. Minn. Apr. 27, 2005). Another ruling in the long-running story of William Purdy, an anti-abortionist who uses extreme forms of gripe sites against his targets. This particular ruling was a…