Intellectual Property, Advertising, Art and Fashion Law

Supreme Court Will Decide Whether USPTO Can Refuse to Register “Scandalous” TMs

On January 4, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to the USPTO to decide whether the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the federal registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” marks violates the First Amendment. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case comes less than two years after it unanimously ruled in Matal v. Tam that a similar part of the trademark law that banned the registration of “disparaging” trademarks violated the First Amendment. In Matal, an Asian-American rock band called The Slants attempted to register its name for trademark protection, but was denied because the USPTO decided that the mark would be likely to offend Asian-Americans. Read More

Dunnington Litigation Team Wins Complete Dismissal in SDNY Against Notorious TM Troll

On September 10, Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed trademark infringement claims brought by Michael Gleissner, one of the world’s most infamous trademark trolls, against a Hong Kong-based satellite operator in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Read More

SDNY Denies Plaintiff Romance Author’s Request for Injunctive Relief Against Competing Use of TM “COCKY”

On July 5, Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued an order stating that a plaintiff romance author who owns a trademark in the word “cocky” for “a series of books in the field of romance” failed to show irreparable harm and likelihood of confusion if the defendant authors were to proceed with using the word “cocky” in connection with their romance novels. In their opposition to the motion, the defendants argued that the plaintiff could not monopolize “cocky” in connection with romance novels because the word is widely-used in romance novels and it is artistically relevant to the content of romance novels. The case is currently pending in the SDNY.

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