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Trademarks Unfair Competition Trade Dress

A Trademark is a legally registered distinctive mark or sign which identifies goods, products or services that originate or are associated with a particular person or enterprise . A typical example of a trademark... more +
A Trademark is a legally registered distinctive mark or sign which identifies goods, products or services that originate or are associated with a particular person or enterprise . A typical example of a trademark would be a company's logo such as the Nike "Check" or McDonald's "Golden Arches."  less -
Troutman Pepper Locke

Is My Guitar Pedal a Klone or a Counterfeit? — No Infringement Intended Podcast

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In this episode, Austin Padgett and Rusty Close venture into the dynamic world of guitar pedals, focusing on the iconic Klon Centaur and its creator's legal showdown with Behringer's Centaur Overdrive. While many Klon...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

To Catch A Fashion Thief: Trend Chasing or IP Infringement?

Fighting knock-offs in the fashion industry is notoriously difficult. Copyright, trademark, and trade dress laws offer some protection for branding and marketing materials used to sell fashion products, as well as for...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Beige Battle: Social Media Influencers Settle Dispute Over Minimalist Brand Identity - The Katten Kattwalk | Issue 29

On May 28, two "frenemy" social media influencers informed a federal court in Texas that they had settled a lawsuit in which one of them accused the other of infringing on her copyrighted social media posts on Instagram and...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Imitation Game: Legal Considerations with Dupes-Based Business Models

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Lower-cost products that are inspired by luxury or well-known branded products —often called “dupes”—have been a fixture in the consumer marketplace for decades. From store-brand pain relievers sold in similar packaging next...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

RAW Confusion? No Error Where Trial Court Declines to Clarify Agreed Jury Instruction

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s jury verdict that found trade dress infringement and liability under state deceptive practices law, and the court’s order entering a nationwide...more

K&L Gates LLP

Make Protecting Your UK and EU Product Packaging and Labels Your New Year’s IP Resolution. Part 2: Combatting Dupes and Copycats...

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Everybody knows that trade marks are necessary to protect a brand’s logo and name, and a lot of people know that registered designs are a powerful tool in stopping counterfeit goods, but did you know these rights can also be...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Trade Dress Requires Separate Articulation and Distinctiveness Requirements

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a complaint for trade dress infringement and unfair competition, finding that the district court erred in requiring the...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Workin’ for a Birkin? The “Wirkin” Bag and Clever IP Protection

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If you’re “wirkin” to save up the money for a BIRKIN bag, you may be waiting a long time. And it may be just as hard to get an imitation version, based on the recent shutdown of a couple of foreign manufacturers’ attempts at...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Thatchers v. Aldi: A Bitter Battle over Cider Branding

On 20 January 2025, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the trade mark dispute between Thatchers Cider Company Limited (“Thatchers”), the largest family-run independent cider producer in the UK, and Aldi Stores...more

Offit Kurman

Branding the Produce Aisle: Appealing to Consumer Tastes

Offit Kurman on

Brands are taking over the produce aisle at the grocery store. They have already conquered the cereal aisle, the soda aisle, the chips aisle, and the cookie aisle (my favorite). While there have always been produce brands...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

California Church Wins Permanent Injunction Prohibiting Wedding Venue From Using Church’s Distinctive Trade Dress For Chapel

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Wayfarers Chapel, a Rancho Palos Verdes church, sued Malibu wedding chapel Calamigos Ranch on trademark and trade dress infringement grounds, as well as unfair competition. Interestingly, Wayfarers Chapel alleged in their...more

Quarles & Brady LLP

Protecting Product and Packaging Designs in China Part I – Trademarks

Quarles & Brady LLP on

Like the United States, China offers protection for 2D and 3D designs of products and packaging, which is often known by U.S. consumers and practitioners as “trade dress.” This four-part miniseries of posts provides a...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Colorful Non-Functionality Argument Misses the (Design) Mark

Addressing the functionality of colors in design marks, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the district court’s entry of judgment for a trademark owner on its unfair competition and trademark claims,...more

Haug Partners LLP

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles!” Third Circuit Court of Appeals Considers Differences Between Trade Dress and Patent...

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In Ezaki Glico Kabushiki Kaisha v. Lotte International America Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit considered a trade dress infringement dispute between two confectioners. Ezaki Glico (“Ezaki”), a Japanese...more

Knobbe Martens

Litigants Face a High Hurdle When Seeking Fees for Unadjudicated Claims

Knobbe Martens on

MUNCHKIN, INC. V. LUV N’ CARE LTD - Before Dyk, Taranto, and Chen. Appeal from the Central District of California. Summary: when a litigant seeks fees for an exceptional case based on issues that were not fully...more

Knobbe Martens

Van Cleef & Arpels v. Nice Ice Fine Jewelers

Knobbe Martens on

On January 30, 2019, the luxury jewelry suppliers Van Cleef & Arpels filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Nice Ice Fine Jewelers, LLC (“Defendant”). Van Cleef & Arpels’...more

Knobbe Martens

Loves me not: Wholesale Jewelry, Inc. Hit with Infringement of Cartier Trademarks and LOVE Collection Trade Dress

Knobbe Martens on

On July 18, 2018 the well-known luxury goods company, Cartier International AG and Cartier, a division of Richemont North America Inc. (collectively, “Cartier” or “Plaintiffs”) filed suit in the United States District Court...more

Hogan Lovells

Setting the right example: China’s Supreme People’s Court selects the top 10 IP cases of 2017

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China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) has recently published its list of the “top 10 significant IP cases” for 2017, which it has done yearly since 2007. ...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

“Sleevey Wonders” are “Arm Tight” in California Lawsuit

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The women’s hosiery powerhouse, Spanx, is being sued for allegedly copying designs of a small shapewear company (R and A Synergy, LLC, v. Spanx, Inc., (C.D. Cal. 2017)). In the Complaint filed on December 21, 2017 in the...more

Knobbe Martens

These Boots Are Made For Walkin’: Trade Dress and the Distinctive Look of a Boot Sole

Knobbe Martens on

Airwair, the owner of the Dr. Martens brand, recently launched a series of lawsuits in the Northern District of California to enforce the trade dress of its “iconic boots and shoes.” One lawsuit was filed in October against...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Lanham Act Cannot Be Used to Create “Species of Mutant Copyright Law”

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court decision granting summary judgment to a defendant that its use of digital files did not infringe plaintiff’s trademark or trade dress for its CD-Gs...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Litigation Alert: The Ninth Circuit Leaves Pirate Joe’s Saying “Shiver Me Timbers!”

Fenwick & West LLP on

Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit determined a court had jurisdiction to decide a trademark lawsuit filed by a U.S. grocery store against a Canadian reseller where the products at issue were only...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Select Management Seeks Redress From Title Credit Over Use Of "Loan Max" Mark

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On April 1, 2014, Select Management Resources, LLC of Alpharetta, Georgia (“Select”) filed a complaint against Title Credit Acceptance, LLC of Duluth, Georgia (“Title”) alleging state and federal trademark and trade dress...more

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