I ♡ Trademarks NewsletterIssue #324
Bri Van Til | February 14, 2023
Bring Your Law Suit
A lawyer walked into the courtroom in just his underwear and asked the judge for a continuance. She looked him up and down and said, “Of course. How can you appear in court when you’ve forgotten your law suit?” Joke courtesy of my Bad Jokes calendar. You’re welcome.
Yuga Labs has reached a settlement with with one of the alleged infringers in the Ryder Ripps suit.
Putting brains—not people—on the witness stand can determine once and for all if there’s a likelihood of confusion.
Facebook parent company Meta has settled the dispute over its logo. Now just some fights over its name remain.
Disputes about common law trademarks are complicated.
Franchises
Hofbräuhaus is suing one of its former franchisees for continuing to use the franchise’s trademarks after their agreement was terminated.
Similarly, Dunkin’ Brands is suing a former franchisee for continued use of the company’s trademarks.
Waste disposal company Lord of the Bins is facing pushback from the Tolkien franchise for trademark infringement. Don’t make a hobbit of infringing others’ trademarks!
The ABA wants to remind you that it’s probably time to update franchise agreements because, well, the world is changing, my friends.
ChatGPT and Friends
David Guetta just had one AI machine write the lyrics and another AI machine sing the vocals to create Emin-AI-em.
Microsoft, Github, and OpenAI have asked a judge to dismiss a complaint alleging “software piracy on an unprecedented scale.”
Can ChatGPT do your clearance searches for you? Probably not. But it can come up with some great names!
Google parent company Alphabet’s shares lost $100 billion when its ChatGPT rival answered a question wrong. And you thought the Bar Exam was a big deal!
Professional Concerns
The Farmer’s Dog woof like you to serve as associate counsel. if you like the job, I guess you could say it raised the bark.
I made a Discovery that you might like to know about: the channel is hiring a head of IP. And I just wanted you to know that I saved you from a Bloodhound Gang reference just now. Or did I?
Is there life on Mars? There has to be, or they wouldn’t be looking for senior marketing counsel.
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
The NFL infamously prohibits mention of non-sponsor brands, to the point of making food trucks paint over the brand names on their tires if they aren’t the right brand. Does the practice violate Free Speech?
Lizzo is 100% that trademark owner, thanks to a TTAB ruling.
The SDNY District Court Judge’s finding in the MetaBirkin trademark infringement suit last week has trademark attorneys celebrating.
The USPTO is warning that scammers have been calling trademark owners and pretending to be the USPTO to phish for information.