Trademark Bulletins

BIC Files ITC Complaint Against Importers of Allegedly Counterfeit Pocket Lighters

On December 6, 2018, BIC Corporation (“BIC”) petitioned the United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”) for an investigation into the illicit importation into the United States, sale for importation, or sale after importation of six respondents’ pocket lighters, alleging that respondents’ lighters infringe BIC’s intellectual property rights in the design of its disposable cigarette lighters, otherwise known as their “trade dress.” In its petition, BIC argues that similarities in the appearance of respondents’ lighters and its lighters will lead consumers to be confused as to the source and/or sponsorship of respondents’ lighters, or to affiliate respondents’ lighters with BIC.  BIC’s petition asks the ITC to issue a general exclusion order blocking the importation of infringing lighters from any source, not just the named respondents, and claims that such an order “is necessary and appropriate to prevent circumvention of limited exclusion orders directed to products of Respondents.”

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Supreme Court Will Decide Whether USPTO Can Refuse to Register “Scandalous” TMs

On January 4, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to the USPTO to decide whether the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the federal registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” marks violates the First Amendment. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case comes less than two years after it unanimously ruled in Matal v. Tam that a similar part of the trademark law that banned the registration of “disparaging” trademarks violated the First Amendment. In Matal, an Asian-American rock band called The Slants attempted to register its name for trademark protection, but was denied because the USPTO decided that the mark would be likely to offend Asian-Americans. Read More

Dunnington Litigation Team Wins Complete Dismissal in SDNY Against Notorious TM Troll

On September 10, Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed trademark infringement claims brought by Michael Gleissner, one of the world’s most infamous trademark trolls, against a Hong Kong-based satellite operator in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Read More

SDNY Denies Plaintiff Romance Author’s Request for Injunctive Relief Against Competing Use of TM “COCKY”

On July 5, Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued an order stating that a plaintiff romance author who owns a trademark in the word “cocky” for “a series of books in the field of romance” failed to show irreparable harm and likelihood of confusion if the defendant authors were to proceed with using the word “cocky” in connection with their romance novels. In their opposition to the motion, the defendants argued that the plaintiff could not monopolize “cocky” in connection with romance novels because the word is widely-used in romance novels and it is artistically relevant to the content of romance novels. The case is currently pending in the SDNY.

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