Alt Legal IP News – Issue # 173
Bri Van Til | January 28, 2020
That Big Football Game on Sunday
– Trademark attorney Mitchell Stabbe offers some advice for how to refer to the final football tournament, AKA the “Superb Owl.”
– The 49ers’ linebacker Kwon Alexander applied to register the trademark “HOT BOYZZ,” but he is getting pushback from DeMarcus Lawrence of the Cowboys, who claims to have already trademarked “HOT BOYZ.” However, it looks like that mark has not yet been registered.
– Kansas City Chiefs fans (who’ve waited 50 years since their team was last in the big game) are buying out all the Chiefs gear, so stores here (I’m in KC, for those of you who don’t know) are scrambling to navigate trademark law and determine what else they can legally produce.
– Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson seemed confident despite his team’s loss a few days prior. Jackson filed an application to register the trademark “YOU ARE GOING TO GET A BOWL OUT OF ME, BELIEVE THAT!”
Criminal Law?
– A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to defrauding would-be investors. Part of his scheme allegedly included claiming his company owned and was selling or licensing major intellectual property rights.
– The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that Fox Rothschild is not liable for a client’s Ponzi scheme, despite allegedly being an intermediary for the funds.
– A trademark infringement case went south when the defendant, Joe Exotic, allegedly attempted to put out a hit on the woman who sued him.
Sweet Eats
– A chocolate company recently created an uproar by trademarking “PSILOCYBIN,” the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. The chocolates will not actually contain the psychedelic, and the trademark is registered in class 41, covering educational materials.
– Hershey has just won a trademark infringement and cybersquatting lawsuit against Ukrainian chocolatier AnyKiss. They should have known they couldn’t steal kisses.
– Edible Arrangements, famous for pretty arrangements of fruit and chocolate, is apparently entering the CBD business and using its trademark for “EDIBLE” to get a leg up on the competition.
For Your Practice
– IP attorney Gau Bodepudi argues that the US should use economic principles and shift patent policy from focusing on “bad actors” to focusing instead on “rational actors.”
– International law firm Simmons & Simmons has not yet set a launch date for their new software, Rocketeer, but the AI tool can apparently predict the outcome of EU trademark conflicts with 93% accuracy.
– How can firm attorneys and outside counsel work best together? Come to our fabulous panel, “What In-house Clients Really Want and How to Deliver It,” at Alt Legal Connect in Brooklyn this March. Use the code “newsletter” for a discount.
– Have an open role on your team? Send a link to your job listing to [email protected], and we’ll publish it in our next newsletter.
Odds and Ends
– REM bassist Mike Mills is “exploring all legal avenues to prevent” President Trump from playing the band’s songs at his rallies.
– Can we get a do-over? Both parties and the US Government are seeking a rehearing in the recent Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew case.
– The release of President Trump’s proposed Space Force logo came as a surprise to Pentagon officials, and others have noted that the logo closely resembles that of Star Trek’s Starfleet Command.
– Scientists are debunking conspiracy theories that suggest that the outbreak of coronavirus coincides with the expiration of a 2015 patented virus. One researcher calls the claim a “bogus theory,” and experts have elucidated that the patents cited are related to outbreaks of other viruses.
– News outlets reported that the trademark application for “Sussex Royal” had been blocked, but World Trademark Review stepped in to clarify that the action was a merely “a notice of threatened opposition.”