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Supreme Court of the United States › Intellectual Property Litigation › Lanham Act

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary... more +
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary with only a limited number of cases granted review each term.  The Court is comprised of one chief justice and eight associate justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to hold lifetime positions. less -
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

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

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on

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

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Baker Donelson

Supreme Court Limits Reach of Trademark Infringement Damages: Affiliation Insufficient

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The Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in Dewberry Group, Inc., FKA Dewberry Capital Corp. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. (23-900, Feb. 26, 2025), and addressed the issue of awarding profits in a trademark infringement...more

WilmerHale

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

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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

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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

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

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

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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

Kilpatrick

Guarding the Guardrails: The Supreme Court Places Limits on the Equitable Remedy of an Accounting of Profits Under Section 35 of...

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I. Introduction - A prevailing plaintiff under the Lanham Act may be entitled to several forms of monetary relief, among them an accounting of the defendant’s profits under Section 35 of the Act.1 The prospect of a...more

Pillsbury - Internet & Social Media Law Blog

Bad Spaniels III: The Paradox of Parody in Trademark Cases Ex-Rogers

Pillsbury - Internet & Social Media Law Blog on

After a decade of litigation and a pivotal Supreme Court ruling from 2023, the legal battle between Jack Daniel’s and VIP Products has taken yet another turn, this time back in favor of Jack Daniel’s. On remand from the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Dog Toy Maker in the Doghouse (Again) for Tarnishing Jack Daniel’s Marks

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Addressing this case for the third time, the US District Court for the District of Arizona found on remand that Jack Daniel’s was entitled to a permanent injunction after finding that VIP Products’ “Bad Spaniels” dog toy...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

The Supreme Court and Intellectual Property in 2024-2025: What Was Decided, What Is To Come And What Was Declined

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In wrapping up the 2023-24 term and embarking on the 2024-25 term, the Supreme Court was asked to decide a number of intellectual property cases. The Court issued several significant opinions in 2024 and has taken several...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

What in the [Meta]World?: Abitron Creates More Questions than Answers

Womble Bond Dickinson on

At a glance, a unanimous Supreme Court, holding that two provisions of the trademark-governing Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1114(1)(a) and 1125(a)(1)) do not apply extraterritorially and extend only to alleged infringement in...more

Erise IP

What’s Trending in Trademarks: January 2025

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Every month, Erise’s trademark attorneys review the latest developments at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the courts, and across the corporate world to bring you the stories that you should know about: USPTO...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

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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

Fenwick & West LLP

A Domesticated Lanham Act: Supreme Court’s Abitron Ruling Opens New Debate on Foreign Reach of U.S. Trademark Law

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The Supreme Court’s June 29, 2023, decision in Abitron Austria GMBH v. Hetronic Int’l, Inc., No. 21-1043, ended decades of circuit splits on the standard for determining the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act (see our...more

Sullivan & Worcester

Supreme Court Rules U.S. Trademark Law Does Not Apply to Foreign Conduct

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On June 29, 2023, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Lanham Act does not have an extraterritorial scope and applies only in cases where the alleged infringing “use...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court Limits the Lanham Act’s Extraterritorial Reach

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In a decision that may make it more difficult for brand owners to enforce their marks against infringers located outside of the United States, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the judgment of the US Court of...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Supreme Court Holds Lanham Act Attaches Only to Liability for Domestic Uses in Commerce

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On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the petitioner in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International Inc. However, the justices were divided 5-4 as to the precise reasoning and what facts...more

White & Case LLP

Supreme Court Reins in Extraterritorial Application of the Lanham Act

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The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Lanham Act infringement and unfair competition provisions "are not extraterritorial and that they extend only to claims where the claimed infringing use in commerce is domestic." In...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Supreme Court Vacates and Remands 10th Circuit's Decision in "Abitron"

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The US Supreme Court ruled today in the closely watched Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. case, which considered whether a party could recover in US courts for trademark infringement that occurred outside...more

Jenner & Block

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument over Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Trademark Law

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On March 21, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. over whether the infringement provisions of the United States Trademark Act impose liability for...more

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