Cognac, which originates from a specific region of France and is named after the commune of Cognac, is far more popular outside its native country. Indeed, according to the industry group Bureau National Interprofessional du...more
Trader Joe’s is a hugely popular grocery chain that has expanded from its Southern California origins to operate close to 600 stores across the United States. Although Trader Joe’s has traditionally had a reputation as an...more
3/13/2024
/ Appeals ,
Dismissals ,
Labor Relations ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
NLRB ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Trader Joes ,
Twombly/Iqbal Pleading Standard ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest topics in technology, with businesses studying how to utilize its benefits and at least some workers wondering if smarter and cheaper AI technologies will replace them. Here...more
When you hear the word “gruyere,” what comes to mind? A bucolic region in the mountains of Switzerland? Perhaps the Gruyère region of neighboring France? Or, more likely, you think of a type of cheese....more
Last month, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit weighed in for the first time on the scienter requirement for copyright infringement under Section 1202(b) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or “DMCA.” In Victor...more
Most lawyers are familiar with the well-known legal maxim that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” In 6-3 opinion issued on February 24, 2022, in a copyright case, the Supreme Court nonetheless held that ignorance of the law...more
The minor hockey league ECHL iced a win over the San Diego Gulls hockey club earlier this month when a judge in the Central District of California granted ECHL’s motion for summary judgment dismissing all of the Gulls’...more
The Ohio State Buckeyes may have lost the college football national championship to Alabama earlier this year but OSU can take some consolation from its recent victory in a trademark case before the Sixth Circuit Court of...more
Lucky Brand has emerged victorious in the latest skirmish of its nearly 20-year trademark litigation battle with Marcel Fashions, a competitor in the apparel business. In Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. v. Marcel Fashions Group,...more
6/1/2020
/ Claim Preclusion ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Counterclaims ,
Defense Preclusion ,
Fashion Branding ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Lucky Brand Dungarees v Marcel Fashion Group ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Release Agreements ,
Res Judicata ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Subsequent Litigation ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
A bong distributor with a reputation as a serial trademark plaintiff managed to persuade a Florida federal court that it should not be on the hook for the prevailing party’s attorney’s fees. In Sream Inc. et al. v. CIJ...more
The world-renowned Danish toy maker Lego has scored an important (albeit partial) win in its nearly 8-year-old copyright litigation against fellow toy maker Best-Lock Construction Toys. On July 25, 2019, Judge Haight of the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s blockbuster rulings in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal represented a major shift in federal pleading standards. Resolution of motions to dismiss frequently turns on whether a...more
If you are a debt collector calling to collect a debt and don’t use your “true name,” you may have violated Section 1692e(14) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). That is one of the lessons from a recent...more
Back in February, we covered the trademark dispute between the U.S. Army and the Las Vegas Golden Knights professional ice hockey team. As we predicted, the Army and the Golden Knights have now settled that matter by...more
In a wake-up call to businesses that offer non-compliant consumer warranties, last week the Federal Trade Commission announced that its staff had sent warning letters to six major companies that market and sell automobiles,...more
The Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team based in Las Vegas that joined the National Hockey League (NHL) earlier this year, have had a surprisingly successful “rookie year,” both on the ice and at the box office. This...more
Late last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) announced that a proposed national charter for fintech companies is currently on hold as the OCC’s new Comptroller of the Currency, Joseph Otting, needs...more
In the wake of last year’s (now-vacated and pending review en banc) decision by the D.C. Circuit in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, 839 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2016), the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial...more
On August 3, 2017, the shoe manufacturer Adidas scored important legal victories in its long-running trademark dispute with the shoemaker Skechers. Adidas America, Inc. et al. v. Skechers USA, Inc. (D. Or. 2017) involved...more
Back in the summer of 2015, we published a popular post on “Qualified Written Requests,” or QWRs, which are written requests by borrowers under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”) for information relating to...more
The Kardashians, America’s favorite celebrity family, have been having a tough time of late, with Kim Kardashian being robbed at gunpoint in her Paris apartment, and her husband Kanye West attracting criticism for his support...more
In a previous post, we discussed Louis Vuitton’s unsuccessful lawsuit against My Other Bag, Inc., in which the “parody defense” was a key issue. Louis Vuitton is making trademark law news again – this time as a...more
On June 30, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) released the twelfth edition of its Supervisory Highlights report (“Report”), which focused on supervision work completed between January and April 2016. The...more
7/26/2016
/ Automotive Loans ,
Citibank ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Corrective Actions ,
Debt Collection ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Electronic Fund Transfer Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Lending ,
False Statements ,
FDCPA ,
HMDA ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Payday Loans ,
Regulation C ,
Regulation E ,
Regulation Z ,
RESPA ,
Restitution ,
UDAAP
Corporate defendants are entitled to the protections afforded by statutes of limitations, which bar claims for conduct long-past and are “vital to the welfare of society.” See, e.g., Gabelli v. S.E.C., 133 S. Ct. 1216, 1221...more
In a recent post, we discussed the trademark parody defense in the context of a California district court decision holding that the owner of the Superman “S” logo had adequately stated infringement claims asserted against a...more