A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia serves as a cautionary tale for trademark applicants seeking to challenge adverse decisions rendered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO”) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “TTAB”).  On January 3, 2014, the Court in Shammas v. Focarino ruled that applicants

Note: This blog is cross-posted from Law360.com with permission from Portfolio Media, Inc. This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could have significant impacts on several segments of the television industry. While it may seem unusual that a dispute centered on dime-sized antennas would capture the attention of the high

In the latest installment of the saga involving the use of the retro Baltimore Ravens “Flying B” logo, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court decision in Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Ltd. P’ship, ruling that the incidental use of the team’s logo in NFL Network videos about the history of the Ravens franchise and players,

Background The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia denied the a software company competitor’s motion to dismiss in AvePoint, Inc. v. Power Tools, Inc., a case which explores the limits of what is permissible when competing for business online.

It is not often that a respondent in a domain name dispute ardently opposes a complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) – quite often respondents simply default, especially if they are a prolific cybersquatter with bigger domain name fish to fry.  Even less common is a respondent who claims to bear

There’s nothing more punk rock than a trademark infringement lawsuit.  Actually, there are a lot of things that are more punk rock – like flouting authority, facial piercings, and two-minute-long tracks.  But starting a federal case over the tattoo-worthy insignia of one of the original hardcore punk bands has got to be up there.

The creators of the short-lived sitcom Animal Practice walked away with a smash-hit in the courtroom:  dismissal of a claim of copyright infringement and an award of over $66,000 in fees and costs, to be paid by the plaintiff that asserted the claim.  The dispute in DuckHole, Inc. v. NBC Universal Media LLC et al. centered on the claim

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted in part and denied in part a documentary production company’s motions to dismiss with respect to its 2012 film Venus and Serena. The Court found that the plaintiff United States Tennis Association’s (“USTA”) unjust enrichment claim under state law was preempted by federal copyright law, but

On October 8, 2013, Judge Feess of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment against the owners of the websites www.TradeKey.com, www.SaudiCommerce.com, and www.b2bFreeZone.com, websites offering a “business to business” marketplace for bulk sales of goods.  Many of these goods were counterfeits of luxury goods sold under the names of

In the most recent ruling in Gaylord v. United States, the United States Court of Federal Claims determined the proper amount of damages due Frank Gaylord, (“Gaylord”) the sculptor who created “The Column” portion of the Korean War Memorial, from the United States Postal Service (USPS) for its unauthorized depiction of “The Column” on a commemorative