Infringement › Trademarks

Focused on Franchise Law - May 2013

FRANCHISOR 101: STATES UPPING THE ANTE FOR FRANCHISORS - A LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - Laws focusing on the franchisees' rights are referred to as relationship laws, and in recent months, franchisee groups fighting for new...more

The Issues of Trademark Infringement and Dilution Go “Wild”

Those of us in a certain age bracket will remember Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” television program that first began in 1963. The Emmy Award-winning show’s first run ended in 1986, and the show went into production again...more

Intellectual Property and Your Startup (Presentation)

Knobbe Martens’ patent attorneys Russell Jeide and Scott Cromar hosted a seminar series on intellectual property basics for Temecula’s business community. This presentation is from the first class giving a basic overview of...more

IP Update, Vol. 16, No. 4, April 2013

Obviousness-Type Double Patenting May Exist When There Is Neither Common Ownership nor Common Inventorship - Addressing an obviousness-type double patenting rejection, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit...more

Budgeting for Litigation

Now, more than ever, businesses are confined by their budgets. Long gone are the days of the blank check for many business expenses, and that includes litigation. If businesses need to live by budgets, so to should the law...more

Trade-mark Oppositions: When “Close” becomes “Too Close”

When is one trade-mark too close to another? This is a question that we work through collaboratively with our trade-mark clients. The short answer is: “It depends…” The long answer is illustrated by these two recent cases. A...more

What Your Company Should Know About Protecting Against Trademark Infringements in China’s Fashion Apparel Industry

It is no secret that trademark infringements are rampant in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”). As the popular phrase goes, “???,???,” which translates to “feigning as brand name companies and free riding on...more

You Owe Me One Hundred Million Dollars

The threat of monetary damages in trademark infringement cases is something that is often asserted, but not necessarily a well understood concept. Some trademark owners mistake their federal trademark registration as a...more

Boarding School Review, LLC v. Delta Career Education Corp.

Order GRANTING Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to FRCP 12(b)(6)

Plaintiff operates a website called Community College Review. It received multiple cease and desist letters, which escalated in the severity of their threats, from counsel for certain institutions about which routine,...more

IP/IT & Media Newsletter - Issue 1/2013

In this issue: - Cookies, Clouds and Other Challenges – Retrospect and Prospect in Data Protection - Employee Data Protection – What’s Down the Road? - German Federal Supreme Court Decides Another...more

Copyright Owners Left Legally Jet Lagged? – The Supreme Court Embraces the International Exhaustion Doctrine

A multi-year legal drama over the proper scope of certain sections of the U.S. Copyright Act, as applied to goods made and first sold outside the United States, has finally come to an end. In a 6-3 decision issued yesterday,...more

You're Getting Sued For What? An E&O Odyssey (Pt 10)

This post is part of an occasional series highlighting the type of risks which film and TV producers face and which are supposed to be covered by E&O insurance. The series aims to demonstrate that what might seem to a...more

$8 Million Trade Dress Infringement Verdict: Is Your Trade Dress Protected?

A recent $8.1 million verdict in a trademark and trade dress infringement action is an emphatic reminder that businesses of all sizes should protect their trade dress as well as their trademarks. Although smaller or startup...more

BVI introduces comprehensive revamp of trade mark laws

For the first time in several decades there will be a comprehensive revamp of the trade mark laws of the British Virgin Islands. The Trade Marks Act (Cap.158) of the Laws of the Virgin Islands (Existing Act) and the...more

IP Update, Vol. 16, No. 2, -- February 2013

In This Issue: Patents - Supreme Court: State Court Has Jurisdiction over a Legal Malpractice Claim; Nothing Non-Obvious About Applying Pre-Existing Technology to the Internet; The Federal Circuit Is Not the Place...more

Developments In NC State Trademark Law

When I last wrote about SCI North Carolina Funeral Services, LLC v. McEwen Ellington Funeral Services, Inc., Judge Murphy had entered a TRO against the Defendants for trademark infringement over their use of the McEwen name...more

IP/Entertainment Law Weekly Case Update for Motion Picture Studios and Television Networks -- February 22, 2013

In This Issue: - Hallford v. Fox Entertainment Group: District court grants defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim, finding that defendants’ television show Touch is not substantially...more

Rock, paper, horns.

Here is a fun exercise. Hold your hand up and make a closed fist. Raise your index finger, and now your pinky. Now look at your hand, what does this symbol mean to you? If you said “Hook ‘em Horns,” the University of Texas...more

Dot Anything: Generic Top-Level Domains Update

On January 12, 2012, ICANN, the authority responsible for management of the internet domain name system, launched the new, expanded, gTLD program, which we reported on here. As implementation moves forward, we want to keep...more

Need A Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gift? Be Careful!

Do you need to buy a last minute Valentine’s Day gift? You may be thinking of picking up the best-selling book Fifty Shades of Grey. Be careful – you need to read this post so that you are not confused and buy something else....more

10 Things You Should Know About IP Litigation

1. Can I infringe a patent if I am not aware of it? Yes. Lack of knowledge of a patent or a lack of intent to infringe the patent is not a defense to an allegation of patent infringement. Patent infringement occurs when...more

Speaking Of . . . Insurance Coverage - Is There Coverage For Alleged “Disparagement” Of Another Company’s Product? One California...

We previously discussed the troubling issues of: a) whether your company’s insurance policy(ies) actually provides coverage for claims of IP infringement, and b) which of your policies is the one(s) you should be looking to...more

Aesthetic Functionality and the Use of “Color Marks” in the Fashion Industry

For more than a century, courts have grappled with whether to extend the protections of trademark laws to colors. In 1995, however, the Supreme Court recognized that both the “language . . . and the basic underlying...more

Trademark Office Denies Louboutin’s Request to Broaden Trade Dress in Red Sole Shoes

The red hot dispute continues between Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent (“YSL”) over Louboutin’s red sole shoe trademark. On January 16, 2013, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Louboutin’s request to...more

Controversial Film “Escape From Tomorrow” Shows Need to Protect Intellectual Property

“Escape From Tomorrow,” one of the most controversial films at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, has put copyright and trademark law, as well as the question of what constitutes parody, in the spotlight. The film reminds...more