California Intellectual Property Blog

Los Angeles – If you’ve already had concerns about your privacy when it comes to Amazon’s Alexa devices or other smart speakers, don’t read this. Presently, Amazon’s smart speaker devices are engaged when you say “Alexa,” or whatever you set the wakeword to be. For example, if you said, “Alexa, shuffle Adele,” the speaker would start recording what you said after “Alexa” to get the information needed to process your request. This means that the device will only send your recorded voice to Amazon’s servers after you activated the device. Functioning under these restrictions provides a relatively formal system of communicating with a machin 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 question were sold i Read the rest

San Diego – Anheuser-Busch InBev recently launched a beer called Patagonia. The popular outdoor clothing retailer by the same name is claiming that consumers will be confused into thinking that the beer has something to do with the clothing company which it does not. Thus far Anheuser-Busch InBev has not backed down and so Patagonia has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Patagonia was founded in California in 1973 and has grown into one of the leading outdoor retailers known for its role as being a leader in environmental activism. Two years ago Patagonia sued President Trump after he attempted to limit protected national lands. In P Read the rest

Los Angeles – Supermodel Gigi Hadid has been sued for copyright infringement for posting a photo of herself on Instagram. The lawsuit involves a photo that was taken by the paparazzi. The complaint states that Hadid used the photo without permission of the owner Xclusive-Lee, Inc.

Thus far Hadid is fighting the case. Her copyright attorney states that the claim is meritless and should be thrown out due to fair use. Thus they are planning a motion to dismiss. Read the rest

Orange County – A book titled Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!, a mashup of Star Trek and Dr. Seuss, created a copyright legal dispute which recently came to a conclusion. Dr. Seuss Enterprises filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit but has now lost on summary judgment.

ComicMix, the creator of the book, prevailed on trademark claims related to the book a year ago. At that time, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino concluded that the book wasn’t explicitly misleading about any connection to the company that owns Dr. Seuss rights.

Now on summary judgment for copyright claims the judge decided that Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Read the rest

Los Angeles – The U.S. Supreme Court recently made an important copyright decision in the case Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com. In the decision, the Supreme court made a unanimous decision that a copyright registration from the U.S. Copyright Office is now required before filing a copyright infringement lawsuit.

There has been a long time circuit court split on the issue. While some circuit courts required only that a copyright application be filed prior to filing a copyright lawsuit, others required a registration. The process from the filing of a copyright application to the registration of the work can t Read the rest

San Diego – Performers have been suing video game creators lately for copying dance moves. Among them are rapper 2 Milly and Alfonso Ribeiro, the actor who played Carlton on the popular show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. In unison with the lawsuit, Ribeiro filed a copyright application for the Carlton Dance made popular on the TV show. The United States Copyright Office has now responded by denying the application.

Alfonso Ribeiro is claiming that Fortnite maker Epic Games committed copyright infringement by making his exact dance available in the video game. In preparation for the lawsuit, Ribeiro has submitted three applicati Read the rest

Orange County – In Europe, McDonald’s has held the trademark for the term “BIG MAC” since 1998. However, the trademark was recently lost after the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) decision to revoke the trademark in response to a cancellation filed by an Irish fast-food chain called Supermac’s.

History of the Big Mac

The Big Mac is the invention of Jim Deligatti, who owned a McDonald’s franchise in Pittsburgh. The sandwich debuted in 1967, and despite its decidedly un-catchy original names, such as “Blue Ribbon Burger” and “Aristocrat,” it became popular on the strengt Read the rest

Los Angeles – In January 2019, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case regarding whether portions of the Lanham Act that prohibits “scandalous” or “immoral” trademarks from receiving trademark protection are constitutional.

The case, Iancu v. Brunetti¸ centers around the decision of the U.S. Trademark Office to deny trademark registration to FUCT, a clothing company founded in Los Angeles in 1990. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has already struck down portions of the law prohibiting registration f Read the rest

San Diego – Historically speaking, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has heard relatively few intellectual property cases. However, in recent years this trend appears to be changing. In fact, the October 2018 term has five IP cases on the docket. The outcome of the cases could have huge ramifications for businesses and their ability to protect intellectual Property assets.

Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC
This case concerns issues related to the effect of bankruptcy on intellectual property licenses and more specifically how bankruptcy effects a trademark license. The case will resolve a c Read the rest