Tenth Circuit: 1-800-SKI-VAIL does not infringe VAIL service mark In a decision last week, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court's ruling in a trademark case in favor of the defendant, finding the defendant's use of the vanity telephone number "1-800-SKI-VAIL" for marketing services relating to the ski industry was not likely to be confused with the Plaintiff's service mark registration for "VAIL" encompassing […] Continue Reading →
Eleventh Circuit: Trademark licensee liable for infringement when deviating from license In a decision Tuesday, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court's finding of trademark infringement against a trademark licensee. The alleged infringer was actually licensed to use the mark owner's trademark, but did not use the mark as described in the license, instead using an abbreviated form. As a result, the court affirmed the jury's […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit clarifies differences between proof of protectable trademark and proof of infringement In a decision Friday, the Ninth Circuit clarified the differences in use requirements to prove the existence of a protectable trademark as compared to trademark infringement. The plaintiff and defendant both used the same mark, but in connection with different services. The defendant successfully argued at the district court that because the plaintiff did not […] Continue Reading →
Third Circuit: Some store brand sucralose packaging confusing; injunction denial partially reversed In a Christmas Eve decision, the Third Circuit partially reversed a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction regarding "store brand" sucralose sweeteners. McNeil Nutritionals, makers of Splenda®, brought suit against a company that produces several different sucralose products that bear the store's name and compete with Splenda®. The district court found McNeil not likely […] Continue Reading →
Eleventh Circuit: No likely confusion between stylized logos for competing welding companies In a decision this week, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment of no service mark infringement. The court held that there were no triable issues of fact as to whether the companies' service marks were confusingly similar, the existence of actual confusion, and the defendant's intent.More details of Welding Servs., Inc. v. […] Continue Reading →
Fourth Circuit: Chewy Vuiton not likely to be confused with or dilute Louis Vuitton trademarks The Fourth Circuit Tuesday affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment of no trademark infringement or dilution. At issue were dog toys that parodied the trademarks and trade dress of Louis Vuitton. The Fourth Circuit agreed that the successful parody resulted in no trademark infringement. On the trademark dilution claim, the court rejected the […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: PerfumeBay confusingly similar to eBay, but Perfume Bay is not In a decision yesterday, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's finding that the mark "Perfumebay" was likely to be confused with eBay, and affirmed an injunction barring the use of the domains perfumebay.com and perfume-bay.com (as of today, both these domains are still functional). The court also affirmed the finding that the use of […] Continue Reading →
Injunction against trademark “disparagement” reversed; no such claim under the Lanham Act In a decision yesterday, the Ninth Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction preventing an individual from "making any comments that could be construed as to disparage" a possible trademark and logo. The court concluded that the injunction was improperly granted since the plaintiff failed to present a likelihood of success on the merits by failing to […] Continue Reading →
Sixth Circuit: No likelihood of confusion between competing wines using same geographic term In a decision last week, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that use of the mark "Chateau de Leelanau Vineyard and Winery" did not create a likelihood of confusion among consumers with the plaintiff's "Leelanau Cellars" federally-registered mark. "Leelanau" in both marks is a reference to a peninsula in Michigan where the wine […] Continue Reading →
Tenth Circuit: Post-sale confusion relevant, but denial of injunction still affirmed In a decision rendered yesterday, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in a trade dress infringement case. The Tenth Circuit did join multiple other circuits in holding that post-sale confusion can be relevant to a claim of trade dress infringement. Evidence of post-sale confusion, however, was still insufficient evidence […] Continue Reading →