Trademark Law

Pennsylvania Law Firm Claims Websites Free-Ride on Its Name

A Pennsylvania law firm has sued a Canadian domain name registry, claiming that it helped create websites that free-ride on the Hourigan, Kluger & Quinn name. The Kingston personal injury firm, which is also known by its HKQ acronym, alleges in the federal suit that Domain Discreet registered website names…

Sep 26, 2008 3:35 PM CDT

New ABA Magazine Offers IP Articles Written By IP Lawyers

A new bimonthly magazine has been launched by the ABA Section of Intellectual Property. Entitled Landslide,it features articles written by IP lawyers, for IP lawyers, the section reports in an e-mailed press release. The new magazine “is dedicated to the sharing of IP knowledge and experience acquired on the frontlines…

Sep 23, 2008 10:22 PM CDT

Nonprofits Oppose Jones Day Trademark Suit Over Associate Home Purchase Posts

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Citizen have filed an opposing amicus brief in federal trademark litigation brought by Jones Day over a website’s postings about home purchases by two of the law firm’s associate attorneys. The posts should be considered news reporting, as well as an allowable fair use…

Sep 19, 2008 9:46 PM CDT

Pinkberry Suits Seek to Put Freeze on Yogurt Competitors

What do Yoberry, Yogiberry, Peachberry and Monkee’s Teriyaki, among others, all have in common? Allegedly, they are copycat frozen yogurt shops seeking to take something of a free ride on the “highly distinctive branding” of three-year-old Pinkberry Inc., reports the Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles-based chain has 65 outlets…

Sep 12, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Jones Day Sues Over Website Posting Attorney Home Purchase Info

Jones Day has sued a website that highlights lawyers—even posting their photos and linking to firm biographies—and other professionals who buy and sell their homes in Chicago, Las Vegas, St. Louis and South Florida. After two Jones Day associates were featured on the BlockShopper site, the Cleveland-based BigLaw firm sued,…

Sep 11, 2008 5:08 PM CDT

Make That 37 Partners Who Have Left Heller Ehrman This Year

With the departure of two San Francisco Bay area attorneys for other law firms, the total number of partners who have left Heller Ehrman this year now reportedly tallies at least 37. Trademark lawyer Harold Milstein is the seventh Heller partner to join Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton this year,…

Sep 3, 2008 7:33 PM CDT

Sprinkles Sues Cupcake Competitor Over Candy Dot

Sprinkles has sued over its candy dot. The three-year-old Beverly Hills bakery, a favorite of Oprah Winfrey and Paris Hilton, says a six-month-old West Hollywood competitor, Famous Cupcakes, has stolen its signature trademark. Although the defendant company apparently isn’t actually using a color-coded circular piece of candy atop its cupcakes,…

Aug 22, 2008 3:25 PM CDT

Appeals Court Vacates Ruling for Duane Morris in Malpractice Case

A ruling by a federal appeals court clears the way for a plaintiff to pursue a malpractice suit against Duane Morris in state court. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal judge lacked jurisdiction to grant summary judgment to the law firm, since a…

Aug 1, 2008 6:12 PM CDT

Why the Rat Olympics Became the Xtreme Rat Challenge

The U.S. Olympic Committee has pursued 1,000 violations of its trademark since the last Olympics, prompting some awkward-sounding substitutes. The committee has the exclusive right to use the word under legislation adopted in 1978 and upheld nine years later in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Wall Street Journal reports.…

Aug 1, 2008 1:58 PM CDT

Legal Threat Results in One Less Billy Goat

A billy goat curse may be extending beyond the Chicago Cubs. It’s also apparently afflicting the owner of a California tavern who says he’ll change his establishment’s name to avoid a legal fight. Billy Truby, owner of Billy Goat’s Tavern in Mount Shasta, says he decided to change the name…

Aug 1, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Wordscraper is Facebook’s New Scrabulous, Testing IP Law

There is Scrabulous news today for some 500,000 aficionados of the popular computerized word game that was played on the Internet by some 450,000 Facebook users each day. Although Scrabulous can no longer be played via the social networking site, a remarkably similar game by the same software developers is…

Jul 31, 2008 7:23 PM CDT

Why ‘Big Red Tickle Monster’ Is Taking the Place of Elmo

Hit by the threat of lawsuits, companies that provide costumed characters for kids’ birthday parties are changing their ways. “Big red tickle monster” is replacing Elmo and “explorer girl with backpack” is substituting for Dora the Explorer, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The costumed figures not only have…

Jul 22, 2008 3:52 PM CDT

Fake News Article Results in Real Lawsuit

Admittedly not thinking about the consequences, a computing services manager for the University of Texas reportedly says he was the practical jokester who posted a fake Oklahoman article online under the byline of a real sportswriter. It falsely claimed that two quarterbacks at the University of Oklahoma had been arrested…

Jul 17, 2008 5:09 PM CDT

No Gold for Tiffany in Suit Against eBay for Knockoff Sales

A federal judge in New York has ruled against Tiffany in its suit claiming eBay failed to prevent sales of counterfeit jewelry. “What a difference 3,600 miles can make,” Am Law Daily writes. It points out that two weeks ago a Paris court fined eBay more than $60 million for…

Jul 15, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

Is ‘Cosmopolitan’ Resort Too Much Like ‘Cosmopolitan’ Magazine?

Cosmopolitan is a well-known women’s magazine. But is its brand strong enough to ban a developer from using the Cosmopolitan name for a new $3.9 billion Las Vegas Strip mega-resort? That will be for the court to decide in a federal trademark infringement lawsuit filed in the Southern District of…

Jul 2, 2008 10:56 PM CDT