Jennifer O’Brien had been employed as a school teacher in Paterson, New Jersey for many years. In December 2010, O’Brien was assigned to teach the first grade. There were about 700 students in the school where she taught, and the student body consisted almost entirely of minority students, including African Americans and Latinos. […]
In trademark law, marks are placed along a continuum of distinctiveness. If a mark is classified as not being inherently distinct, the mark must acquire distinctiveness in consumers’ minds to achieve trademark status. That acquired distinctiveness is called a “secondary meaning.” Secondary meaning is a new and additional meaning that attaches to a mark. […]
The Federal Trademark Dilution Act (“FTDA”), embodied in Section 43(c)(1) of the Lanham Act, provides that famous marks are eligible for federal protection when a third party’s use of the mark dilutes the famous mark’s distinctiveness, even in the absence of competition, likelihood of confusion, mistake, or deception. Protection against dilution does not exist to […]
By: Tyler Hampy As mentioned in my last post, this post will continue the discussion on the fair use doctrine. Specifically, this post will discuss whether parodies of copyrighted works can be considered fair use. To recap, the fair use doctrine permits the legal use of copyrighted material without first acquiring permission from the copyright […]
To prove copyright infringement, the plaintiff must show that it owns a valid copyright and must establish that the defendant engaged in the unauthorized copying of the work protected by the copyright. “Copying” refers to the act of infringing any of the exclusive rights that accrue to the owner of a valid copyright under 17 […]
By: Tyler Hampy To begin, what is unfair competition? Although the courts have had little success in defining unfair competition in the abstract, Black’s Law Dictionary defines unfair competition as dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce, specifically, the practice of endeavoring to pass off one’s own goods or products in the market […]
Near the beginning of the film The Hangover: Part II, the four friends are walking through the Los Angeles International Airport on their way to board a flight to Thailand for Stu’s bachelor party. Alan, Mr. Socially Awkward, is carrying an over- the-shoulder bag appearing to be a pricey and lavish Louis Vuitton. While waiting […]
Traditionally, trade dress was limited to the overall appearance of labels, wrappers, and containers used in packaging a product. However, over a period of years, the traditional definition expanded beyond packages and containers to include the total look of a product. Today, the total look includes the packaging, as well as the design, shape, size, […]
