California Intellectual Property Blog

San Diego – President Donald Trump recently published a Tweet to his Twitter account that has landed him in some hot water. The Tweet was comprised of a frozen cinematic depiction of the President with the phrase “Sanctions are Coming” in a font that brings to mind the blockbuster HBO series Game of Thrones.

HBO’s Game of Thrones series is well known for its trademark phrase: “Winter is Coming.” The phrase is known as the prediction of an army that is to sweep and conquer the land. “Winter is Coming” has been used in countless forms on social media over the years, however, HBO has indicated that they would prefer that it is not u Read the rest

Orange County – In April, Elon Musk made some noise on social media with his April Fools joke hinting at a Tesla-branded Tequila. Apparently it wasn’t a joke. On April 10th Tesla filed a trademark application for Teslaquila in Jamaica for “distilled agave liquor” and last week Tesla followed it up with the same filing in the United States.
In the original Teslaquila April Fool’s joke, in a twitter post Musk said that the the electric car company was going bankrupt and alluded to him being found passed out against a Tesla Model 3 surrounded by Teslaquila bottles. A few days later on Instagram, Musk posted a photo of a tequila bottle wi Read the rest

Los Angeles – A trademark quarrel has arisen over who owns the term “Sacksonville.” In 2015, Dan Skuta of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars applied to trademark the term “Sacksonville”. The application was later abandoned in 2016. Skuta originally signed a five-year contract for $20.5 million with the Jaguars in 2015 but was later cut from the team early in 2017.
On October 18, 2017, the Jaguars filed a trademark application for #SACKSONVILLE for goods and services including shirts and entertainment services. On May 3, 2018 Skuta re-filed a trademark application for SACKSONVILLE for shirts and decals, and then on May 4, 2018 Skut Read the rest

San Diego – Ohio State University recently filed a Notice of Opposition opposing the University of Oklahoma’s trademark application of an image of a drum major with a block “O” on the front of the uniform. The University of Oklahoma filed the application on December 7, 2017.
In the opposition filed with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Ohio State claims that the block letter “O” has been used on its uniforms and merchandise since 1898. The opposition states that the block letter “O” is the “heart of the branding and image of Ohio State and is used in connection w Read the rest

Orange County – Last week, Irvine, California based In-N-Out Burger sent a pun-filled cease and desist letter to Seven Stills Brewery & Distillery located in San Francisco suggesting that the brewerey “hop to action” to clear up a “brewing” trademark issue “in good spirits.”
In-N-Out Burger reached out after hearing of the upcoming release of Seven Stills Brewery & Distillery’s new beer called “In-N-Stout.” The brewery recently used Instagram to promote the new beer, describing it as a barrel-ages milkshake stout and tagged In-N-Out Burger’s account. Within the promotion was an image of the beer featuring a Read the rest

Los Angeles – In December 2017, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the St. Louis’ Billy Goat Chip Company related to use of the “Billy Goat” name on products. Billy Goat Tavern, founded in 1934, is a popular hang-out spot that gained some fame after it’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” Billy Goat Chip Company recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit but it was denied by U.S. District Judge Robert Dow Jr.
The tavern currently sells branded beer and frozen burgers in local grocery stores. According to the lawsuit, Billy Goat Tavern has plans to begin selling potato chips in the near Read the rest

San Diego – For more than 20 years China has been the largest trademark register in the world, and the pace of filings are only continuing. The increase is party tied to overall economic growth in China. In the first quarter of 2018, China’s GDP rose 6.8 percent and is predicted to increase another 6.7 percent in the next quarter. Along with GDP, the trademark filing activity has had rapid growth. Within the past two years, China’s trademark applications have doubled.
To put the numbers into perspective, in 2017 China had ten times more trademark applications than the United States. Compared to Europe the numbers are even more surp Read the rest

Orange County – On July 10th, 2018, Walmart filed a patent for audio surveillance technology for quality assurance purposes. According to the patent, sound sensors will be used to collect audio data to help improve the customer experience by focusing on the details of shoppers such as how long they stand in line, beeps of the scanners, rustle of bags, and even the conversations they have.
Sam Lester, a consumer privacy lawyer for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., says, “This is a very bad idea, if they do decide to implement this technology, the first thing we would want and expect is to know which privacy expec Read the rest

Los Angeles – In August 2016, SportFuel filed a lawsuit against PepsiCo, Inc. subsidiary Gatorade for trademark infringement over Gatorade’s use of the SportFuel trademark in a marketing campaign. Now, two years later Gatorade has prevailed and will be allowed to continue its campaign.
SportFuel provides nutritional products and services to its clients including the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rockford IceHogs, and more from the small town of Western Springs, Illinois. SportFuel was founded in 1993 by Julie Burns who registered the SportFuel trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2008.
Gatorade created the sports drink indust Read the rest

San Diego – Sesame Workshop, founder of the children’s show “Sesame Street,” has filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York against STX Productions over use of its trademark in a movie trailer. The offending movie is titled “The Happytime Murders” which is a romp centered around puppets being killed. It stars Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Joel McHale.
Sesame Workshop claims that the movie trailer has left the Sesame brand tarnished. The lawsuit continues to say that the movie trailer does not uphold Sesame Workshop’s message and uses the Sesame Street brand without authorization at the end of the trailer when you see the li Read the rest