Trademark Law Briefs

a summary of recent 9th Circuit trademark decisions

Referring to famous people in product press releases- beware a false implication of endorsement

July 3rd, 2008

Yeager v. Cingular Wireless LLC, 2008 US Dist. LEXIS 46449 (E.D. Cal. 2008) 

Ruling: Defendant’s motion to dismiss on first amendment grounds denied because the complaint plead facts on which defendant’s actions could be considered commercial speech.  Defendant’s claim that plaintiff’s achievements in breaking the sound barrier are within the public domain and therefore not subject to trademark law is unfounded because a false endorsement claim is actionable under the Lanham Act as plead by plaintiff.  Finally, defendant’s defenses regarding incidental use and permissible fair use are fact specific and therefore cannot be grounds to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint as a matter of law when plaintiff has plead sufficient facts.

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Posted in False Endorsement, First Amendment, likelihood of confusion | No Comments »

Apple obtains a consent judgment for trademark infringement

June 26th, 2008

Apple Inc. v. Podfitness, Inc. 2008 US Dist. LEXIS 45241 (N.D. Cal. 2008); see also 2007 US Dist. LEXIS 36347 (N.D. Cal. 2007) for procedural/factual history of the case

 

Ruling: This case is an entry of a consent judgment between Apple Inc. (Plaintiff) and Podfitness Inc. (Defendant).  The judgment granted a permanent injunction of Defendant’s use of the term Pod in its title and the use of white ear buds in its logo.  The consent judgment states that such use infringes on Plaintiff’s registered trademark in the term “Pod” and common law trademark in the white ear buds resulting from trade dress and use in the silhouette advertising. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Genericism, dilution | No Comments »

Recent Microsoft Default Judgments

May 29th, 2008

Microsoft was granted 3 separate default judgments for trademark and copyright infringement lawsuits brought in California since March 2008.  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in default judgment, statutory damages | No Comments »

Applied Information Sciences Corp. v. eBay, Inc.

January 10th, 2008


2007 US App LEXIS 29871 (9th Cir 2007).  Decided December 28, 2007

Ruling: A trademark registration is prima facie evidence of the validity of a trademark and whether defendant has used the mark on the goods specified in the registration is irrelevant in establishing Plaintiff’s protectable interest.  If there is a protectable interest, the next question is whether Defendant’s use of the mark creates a likelihood of confusion. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Validity of Mark, likelihood of confusion | No Comments »

Quicksilver Inc. v. Kymsta Corp.

January 10th, 2008

2007 US Dist LEXIS 92905 (CD CA 2007).  Decided December 18, 2007

Ruling: Recent consumer surveys conducted by a plaintiff mark holder are not relevant as to the commercial impression of the mark at the time that the defendant adopted the mark. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Discovery, consumer surveys | No Comments »

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