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Lanham Act Appeals Supreme Court of the United States

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Trademark Damages: Supreme Court Rejects Disgorgement of Non-Defendant Affiliate Profits

The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Dewberry Engineers Inc. v. Dewberry Group, Inc. on Feb. 26, 2025, clarifying the scope of damages available under the Lanham Act in trademark infringement cases....more

Sunstein LLP

Supreme Court vacates $43 million trademark award for violating principle of corporate separateness in Dewberry Group

Sunstein LLP on

On February 26, 2025, in Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers, the Supreme Court unanimously vacated a $43 million damages award for trademark infringement, ruling that the lower court improperly conflated the defendant with...more

Sunstein LLP

Bad Spaniels on Remand: Parody Provides an Escape from Infringement But Not From Dilution

Sunstein LLP on

The dispute at issue in Jack Daniel’s arises from a conflict between the well-known whiskey company and a dog toy company (VIP) regarding VIP’s unauthorized use of Jack Daniel’s trademarks and trade dress in connection with a...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

US Supreme Court: 'Defendant’s Profits' Are Limited to Named Defendants Under the Lanham Act

Under the Lanham Act, a plaintiff who prevails on a trademark infringement claim may be entitled to recover the “defendant’s profits” as damages. The Supreme Court in Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc....more

Irwin IP LLP

Time To “Dew” It Again. 

Irwin IP LLP on

Dewberry Group, Inc., FKA Dewberry Capital Corp v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., No. 23-900, 604 U.S. (2025) - On February 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court unanimously overturned a $43 million damages award arising out...more

A&O Shearman

Supreme Court Limits Scope Of Damages Awards In A Trademark Infringement Action

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On February 26, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous decision limiting the Lanham Act’s scope of damages in a trademark infringement action. The case involves a trademark dispute between two...more

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

The Supreme Court Clarifies Definition of “Defendant’s Profits” Under the Lanham Act

On February 26, the U.S. Supreme Court in Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. unanimously held that an award of “defendant’s profits” under the Lanham Act in a trademark infringement suit is only ascribable to the...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Supreme Court’s Dewberry Decision: Navigating Profit Recovery in Trademark Infringement Cases

Can a defendant’s affiliates’ profits be considered when awarding the “defendant’s” profits to the prevailing plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit under the Lanham Act, § 1117(a)? In Dewberry Group, Inc. v Dewberry...more

Goodwin

Supreme Court Curtails Disgorgement in Trademark Infringement Case

Goodwin on

On February 26, 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision limiting the scope of an award of the “defendant’s profits” in trademark infringement suits under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1117(a), to only those...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SCOTUS Stands by Corporate Separateness, Overturns Nearly $43M Award in Trademark Dispute

Fenwick & West LLP on

The Supreme Court on February 26, 2025, overturned a nearly $43 million award granted in a decades long trademark dispute between two real estate companies. The unanimous ruling emphasized that under the Lanham Act section...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Supreme Court Limits Lanham Act Disgorgement to Named Defendants’ Profits

On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the petitioner in Dewberry Group Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., holding that a disgorgement of “defendant’s profits” under the Lanham Act may...more

ArentFox Schiff

Sue Them All? SCOTUS Vacates $43 Million Trademark Judgment

ArentFox Schiff on

To plead, or not to plead. That is a question trademark infringement plaintiffs will need to carefully consider with their legal counsel when deciding which parties to name as defendants in a lawsuit and which legal arguments...more

WilmerHale

Supreme Court Vacates Trademark Infringement Disgorgement Award for Failure to Observe Separateness of Corporate Affiliates

WilmerHale on

On February 26, 2025, the Supreme Court decided Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., No. 23-900, a case concerning corporate separateness and disgorgement awards for Lanham Act trademark infringement....more

BakerHostetler

Supreme Court Upholds Corporate Separateness in Unanimous Dewberry Decision

BakerHostetler on

In Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers, Inc., the Supreme Court unanimously held that the Lanham Act does not permit courts to disregard corporate identity when awarding damages for trademark infringement....more

Jenner & Block

Client Alert: US Supreme Court Rules Trademark Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Profits from Defendants’ Affiliates, Overturns $43M Award...

Jenner & Block on

On February 26, 2025, in a unanimous opinion, the US Supreme Court vacated a $43 million trademark infringement award and ruled that trademark plaintiffs cannot recover profits from defendants’ affiliates when those...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Successful Trademark Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Profits From Named Defendants’...

Fox Rothschild LLP on

On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated a nearly $43 million award in a trademark dispute that raised the question of whether a defendant’s affiliates could be held liable for payment of a disgorged...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Dictionary Definitions Prove Decisive - SCOTUS Today

Epstein Becker & Green on

Yesterday was a day of unanimity at the U.S. Supreme Court, and what the Justices were unanimous about was a textually literal approach to applying dictionary definitions to resolve statutory disputes....more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Supreme Court Update - February 26, 2025

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions today: Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers, Inc., No. 23-900: The Court held that in awarding the “defendant’s profits” to the prevailing plaintiff in a...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

SCOTUS Holds Affiliate Profits Not Available Under One Lanham Act Provision, But Leaves Door Open for Other Theories

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., vacating a nearly $43 million profits award and remanding the case for further consideration. The Court concluded...more

Bracewell LLP

A New Way to Pierce the Corporate Veil: Disgorging Profit From Corporate Affiliates

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The US Supreme Court has recently granted certiorari on the issue of whether a corporation can be held liable for the conduct of its affiliate without first satisfying the well-settled standards for piercing the corporate...more

McAfee & Taft

Abitron v. Hetronic — Damages reduced on remand

McAfee & Taft on

In a tIPsheet article titled “SCOTUS rules Lanham Act does not have extraterritorial reach” published on July 20, 2023, we discussed Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic Int’l, Inc., 600 U.S. 412 (2023), a U.S. Supreme Court case...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Ninth Circuit Provides Further Guidance on Trademark Lawsuits Involving “Expressive Works”

We previously discussed the United States Supreme Court’s June 2023 Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products, LLC decision, which altered the way the “Rogers test,” a doctrine designed to protect First Amendment...more

McDermott Will & Emery

First Amendment Bowled Over by Lanham Act – Again

McDermott Will & Emery on

In response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling in Jack Daniel’s, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reconsidered its 2022 decision in Punchbowl v. AJ Press and determined that Jack Daniel’s reset...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Courts and Brand Owners Struggling With SCOTUS Decision Limiting Ability to Police Against Foreign Trademark Infringement

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s end-of-term decision in Abitron v. Hetronic seems to have created more questions than answers about U.S. brand owners’ ability to leverage the federal Lanham Act in global trademark disputes. In the...more

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC

U.S. Businesses Need Foreign Trademark Registrations in the Wake of Abitron

U.S. businesses selling abroad cannot enforce domestic trademarks against foreign entities selling infringing goods into the United States through strawmen, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in...more

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