Frozen, the Disney movie released in 2013 was recently declared as the highest grossing animated movie of all time. To date, it has grossed almost 1.1 billion dollars! Yes – that’s right – billion with a “B.” In fact, it is the only animated movie to make over 1 billion dollars. Of course, with that […]
Who Dat!”- The supporting cry for the New Orleans Saints is actually trademarked by a few San Antonio musicians. In 1983, Steve and Sal Monistere recorded their own version of “The Saints Go Marching In” with a “who dat” chant in the song and shortly thereafter trademarked both the “Who Dat!” And “Who Dat?” phrases. […]
When the Dumb Starbucks store showed up late last week in Los Angeles, there was a lot of media attention on it. One defense that I heard in the media was that it was a parody of a Starbucks store and, therefore, it was probably ok. That’s not exactly the case.
In another Goliath versus David trademark battle, Bubble by Brooks successfully triumphs over corporate giant Brooks Brothers in the rights to keep “Brooks” company name. Over a year ago, Bubble by Brooks owner, Amy Brooks received a trademark infringement action lawsuit from high end clothier Brooks Brothers. The Brooks Brothers attorneys stated in their case […]
Kanye West is surely no gold digger, but he’s certainly looking to figure out who is using his name satirically to develop a little dough. That’s right, if you’re a business that could have any possible hand in supporting a new virtual currency, Coinye West? Kanye is coming for you. That was no typo, Coinye […]
Duckhorn Vineyards is suing Trinchero Family Estates over trademark infringement of their wine brand. Trinchero Family Estates recently paired up with A&E’s reality television family, Duck Dynasty, to produce a new wine called Duck Commander. Duckhorn argues their new wine brand infringes upon their already well established 30 year old brand causing consumer confusion. Is […]
Who doesn’t want to drive a luxury Bentley automobile? A car good enough to drive around the Queen of England, is certainly a car that is highly desired. But alas, the average American cannot afford the $200,000 price tag that comes with purchasing a Bentley. This is exactly why people jumped at the chance to […]
Trademarks can be so confusing. Is it ok to use the same trademark as someone else? A detailed analysis must be conducted before answering such a question. A great example of the type of analysis that occurs in trademark law can be found in the movie Coming to America.
Smartphone word games popularity has exploded but is it because of their similarity to already existing word board games? The Mattel toymaker would argue this is indeed the case. They filed a lawsuit against Zynga for using a brand name too closely resembling their own. They argue that Zynga’s “Scramble with Friends” online word game […]
