California Intellectual Property Blog

While many businesses were damaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, teleconferencing company Zoom found astounding success. Explosive growth has led the company to expand its reach into other Read the rest

Due to the popular feline’s passing in May 2019, it may surprise some to hear that a Grumpy Cat lawsuit has found its way to federal court today. While Tardar Sauce ( Read the rest

Los Angeles – Delta Air Lines, Inc. recently sued Marriott International, Inc. for trademark infringement for utilizing the DELTA trademark in relation to hotels. Marriott purchased the Canadian Delta hotel chain in 2015 and has been expanding its Delta hotels throughout Canada and now into the U.S. Delta claims that with a recent Marriott rebranding they are now even copying the designs and color schemes of Delta’s logo.

Delta is claiming that Marriott has completely disregarded Delta’s trademark rights to gain commercial benefit from travelers that are looking for a hotel while on the road. Delta is obviously a signific Read the rest

Orange County – Daniel Jones, former Duke quarterback and now the rookie quarterback for the New York Giants, has filed a trademark application for the nickname “Danny Dimes.”  <!–more–>

Daniel Jones became the No. 6 overall pick this year with many criticizing the selection as a reach. Once on the field however, Jones almost immediately showed that the Giants made the correct selection.  Jones played well immediately in the preseason and into the season to the point that the Giants benched Eli Manning and inserted Jones as the starter.  Jones’ play has led to an increase in demand for New York Giants and Read the rest

San Diego – A Florida-based chapter of The Society of Professional Journalists has attempted to trademark the term “Fake News” to stop President Donald Trump from using it. The apparent concern is that the term has been used to discredit legitimate news stories and demean journalists.

There has been a general distrust directed toward the field of journalism since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency. A spike was seen in these behaviors when Donald Trump began making claims about “Fake News” indiscriminately. Since Donald Trump has taken over as President, the website Factba.se was launched to track all of the Read the rest

Los Angeles – Mondelez Canada Inc., the creator of the sour gummy candy Sour Patch Kids, has filed a trademark lawsuit against an apparent knockoff called “Stoney Patch”. While Sour Patch Kids are clearly for kids, Stoney Patch is THC-infused candy. Mondelez also takes issue with the fact that the Stoney Patch brand gummies share a striking resemblance to their Sour Patch Kids.

This lawsuit highlights a disturbing trend among THC-infused edible food companies which are creating edibles that are packaged in a way that makes them appear to be candy. In the complaint that Mondelez filed with the US District Court for Read the rest

Los Angeles – The historical names that once were a part of Yosemite National Park, such as the Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, are being brought back to their former glory following a legal settlement in a lengthy trademark lawsuit.

Delaware North registered trademarks for the names of the historic sites within Yosemite National Park during its 25-year run as the park’s former concessionaire. Recently to end litigation regarding alleged trademark infringement after Yosemite changed to a new concessionaire, Delaware North agreed to relinquish the claimed ownership of the trademarks for $12 Million.

The trademark Read the rest

Orange County – The use of the word “Prime” on Amazon’s trucks has led to a trademark infringement lawsuit. On July 2nd, 2019, a Missouri-based trucking company, Prime Inc., filed a lawsuit in federal court in the western district of Missouri.

Prime Inc. claims to have notified Amazon of the trademark infringement more than two years ago through written correspondence, as well as proceedings that Prime Inc. initiated through the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Amazon has continued to use the Prime markings on its trucks and other vehicles for commercial use. Prime is claiming that Amazon’s actions amo Read the rest

San Diego – Lego has filed another lawsuit against a manufacturer of figurines similar to those produced by Lego. This time the defendant is Connecticut based Lakeshore Learning Material which has also been accused copyright infringement.

Lego, which is based in Denmark, believes that the potential harm to their brand is unquantifiable. Lego alleges that the damage done from the unauthorized copies of its trademarked figurines will be significant. Lego believes that Lakeshore has copied the “Minifigure” design that is trademark and copyright protected, to create figurines that are incredibly similar to that of Lego& Read the rest

Orange County – In a lawsuit that has gone on for three years, a small Australian bootmaker has recently lost a decision and has been ordered to pay $450,000 for trademark infringement. The case involves the popular “UGG” trademark and footwear design owned by United States-based Deckers Outdoor Corporation. Deckers filed the lawsuit in March of 2016 on the claim that Sydney-based Australian Leather had willfully infringed upon the trademark by selling sheepskin-lined boots also referred to as an “Ugg.”

Deckers’ UGG boot generates over $1 billion in annual revenue for the American company. The infringing boots in quest Read the rest