Trademark Law Briefs

No Doubt v. Activision Publishing, Inc. (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1018

No Doubt, a famous band, entered into a licensing agreement with Activision, publisher of the Band Hero video games, to use No Doubt’s likeness with up to three of its songs.  Activision allowed players to “unlock” the No Doubt band members to be used with other songs as well.  No Doubt sued for violation of publichity rights and unfair competition.  Activision filed an anti-slapp motion based on its alleged First Amendment right to use their personas.  (more…)

Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. v. Tabari, 610 F.3d 1171 (9th Cir. 2010)

Defendants are independent auto brokers - the “personal shoppers” of the auto world, who specialize in buying Lexus brand cars for their clients.  They use the domain names “buy-a-lexis.com” and “buyorleaselexus.com”.  The district court granted a permanent injunction against any use of the mark Lexus in their websites.  The 9th Circuit reversed and remanded based on nominative fair use doctrine. (more…)

General Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager (Ret.) v. Cingular Wireless LLC et al., 673 F.Supp.2d 1089 (E.D. Cal. 2009)

Back in July of 2008, TMLB reported on a case between Gen. Chuck Yeager and AT&T.  Cingular (acquired by AT&T) referenced Yeager’s breaking the sound barrier in a press release on its technology to provide cellular service after disasters.  Yeager sued based on missappropriation of his likeness and AT&T demurred.  The court ruled Yeager had pleaded sufficiently and denied AT&T’s motion.  Read the original post here.

Well, AT&T is back and this time, it’s aiming an MSJ. (more…)

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