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Today's Popular Updates › First Amendment › Trademarks

A repository for the most well-read content on JD Supra at any given time, along with occasional roundups of popular content by specific topic. Also stop by for monthly recaps of hot articles for the previous... more +
A repository for the most well-read content on JD Supra at any given time, along with occasional roundups of popular content by specific topic. Also stop by for monthly recaps of hot articles for the previous thirty days. less -
Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Spotlight or Lawsuit? Strategic Brand Use in Film and Media

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When The White Lotus returned to HBO for its third season, it came with the usual dose of dramatic tension, along with one unexpected intellectual property wrinkle. [WARNING – Potential Plot Spoiler Ahead!] In a particularly...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

To Parody or Not to Parody: The Supreme Court Weighs In

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Close on the heels of the unanimous decision in Amgen v. Sanofi, the Supreme Court handed down another unanimous decision in Jack Daniel’s v. VIP Products. Justice Kagan wrote the opinion, with Justice Sotomayor and Justice...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Courts Offer More Guidance on Enforcing Rights to Brands and Images Used with NFTs

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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) serve as agile mechanisms to verify an underlying asset's authenticity and/or ownership linked with it. For now, minting NFTs to commercialize digital artwork on blockchain domain names continues to...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

SCOTUS Agrees to Engage in Some Whiskey Business

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On Monday, November 21st, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal filed by Jack Daniel’s. In this appeal, Jack Daniel’s argued that the Ninth Circuit erred by upholding the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to...more

Stinson LLP

Meta Bags: NFT Complications and Considerations for Traditional Brand Owners

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In yet another example of the law trying to keep up with technology, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision in Hermès International, et al. v. Mason Rothschild that examines...more

American Conference Institute (ACI)

[Virtual Conference] FDA Boot Camp - September 14th - 15th, 8:15 am - 1:30 pm EST

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Through nearly 19 years, ACI’s FDA Boot Camp has been the training grounds for life sciences attorneys and executives to master the fundamentals of FDA regulation. Don’t miss your opportunity to join their ranks....more

Pierce Atwood LLP

Federal Court Rules MetaBirkin NFTs Entitled to First Amendment Protection in Hermès Trademark Case

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In one of the first trademark cases involving NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York’s opinion in Hermès International, et al. v. Mason Rothschild sheds new light on how...more

Sunstein LLP

Humvee Goes Into Battle: Will Its Trademarks Leave Tread Marks on Video Game Makers?

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The realism of video games is intensified by the inclusion of products and brands we recognize from daily life. Can the thrill of such verisimilitude coexist alongside the rights of trademark owners?...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Trademarks: How (Not) to Strip the Leather Jacket off the Biker's Back

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The Central District Court of California has held that the First and Eighth Amendments protect the trademark-registered emblems of the Mongol Nation motorcycle club from forfeiture. ...more

Fish & Richardson

First Amendment 2 – Lanham Act 0: Federal Circuit Holds Lanham Act Prohibition on Immoral and Scandalous Marks Is Unconstitutional...

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In the wake of the In re Tam decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, on December 15, 2017, the Federal Circuit held that the Lanham Act Section 2(a) prohibition on the registration of immoral and scandalous marks is a...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Are Offensive Trademark Registrations On The Rise?

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In direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the constitutionality of section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which as enacted barred the registration of disparaging trademarks, there is reason to believe...more

Jones Day

Siding with The Slants: Ban on Disparaging Marks Held Unconstitutional

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Asian rock band The Slants is no longer "The Band Who Must Not Be Named," as they titled their most recent album. On June 19, 2017, the United States Supreme Court decided Matal v. Tam, striking a provision of the Lanham Act,...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

SCOTUS Strikes Down Disparaging Trademark Ban

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On June 19, 2017, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated ruling in the Lee v. Tam trademark dispute involving the rock band, The Slants. As detailed in an earlier blog post, the legal issue faced by the...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Intellectual Property Bulletin - Winter 2017

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A Smooth Patch in a Rough Road? Governmental Transition and Intellectual Property - Whenever a new Congress convenes, some IP issues come to the fore while others take a back seat. Transition to a new administration in the...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Supreme Court to Review Registrability of Disparaging Trademarks

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On September 29, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States granted a petition for certiorari to consider the constitutionality of a provision of the US trademark laws directed to the registrability of disparaging...more

K&L Gates LLP

Trademark Law Update: SCOTUS to Decide Whether Ban on Registering “Disparaging Marks” Is Unconstitutional

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Under section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, the Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may refuse to register any trademark that “[c]onsists of . . . matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or...more

Mintz - Trademark & Copyright Viewpoints

The SLANTS Trademark Will Play One More Gig: U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of Ban on Disparaging Trademarks

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The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will review whether the U.S. Trademark Office can deny registration of offensive trademarks or whether such prohibition violates the First Amendment. The dispute affects the...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &...

Of Slants, Skins and Signs: No Relief For Trademark Applicant Until Supreme Court Weighs In

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &... on

As part of our continuing monitoring of this issue, we bring you the latest chapter in the saga over the registration of THE SLANTS trademark. After the en banc Federal Circuit struck down Section 2(a) as facially...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

USPTO To Suspend New Trademark Applications Containing Scandalous Or Disparaging Material

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On March 10, 2016, The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued new examination guidance for trademark applications containing potentially immoral or scandalous matter, which is expressly prohibited by...more

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Refusal to Register Disparaging Trademarks Struck Down on First Amendment Grounds

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a 9-3 decision in In re Tam, has declared a provision of the federal trademark law unconstitutional as violating the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. The...more

Fish & Richardson

Disparaging Trademarks Afforded First Amendment Protection

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled last week that Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), the provision used as a basis to bar registration of “disparaging” marks, is...more

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

Aretha Franklin Is Looking For A Little Respect From Telluride And Toronto Film Festivals

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On September 4, 2015, a long running legal battle over the right to use footage from a 1972 concert by Aretha Franklin took a twist right out of a Hollywood movie when the Queen of Soul sought, and was granted, a temporary...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &...

Harry Potter Lawsuits And Where To Find Them

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On July 31, 2015, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling celebrates her 50th birthday, according to muggle sources. The enormous success of Rowling’s literary creation and its associated multimedia empire has spawned countless...more

Cooley LLP

Alert: Federal Court Upholds Cancellation of REDSKINS Trademark Registration

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On July 8, 2015, a federal district court in Virginia upheld a ruling canceling six federal trademark registrations incorporating the term REDSKINS owned by the Washington, D.C. football team. The court agreed with the...more

BakerHostetler

In re Tam – Federal Circuit Orders En Banc Review of Trademark Act’s Ban Against Registration of Disparaging Marks

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The Slants is a Portland-based band composed of musicians of Asian-American descent who characterize their genre as “Chinatown Dance Rock.” The band’s bassist, Simon Tam, filed a trademark application for THE SLANTS for...more

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