California Intellectual Property Blog

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

Orange County – Recently a Kosher foods company has applied to trademark the name “Trader Schmo,” which is being opposed by the supermarket chain Trader Joe’s. Part of the reasoning behind the opposition is that Trader Joe’s believes that the phrase “Joe Schmo” is so recognized that Trader Schmo will confuse consumers, especially with both companies selling food.
Trader Joe’s began in 1958 and is based in Monrovia, California. There are 475 Trader Joe’s retail grocery stores in forty one states across the country. Trader Joe’s also uses trademarks similar to its core trademark including TRADER MING’S (Chinese food), TRADER Read the rest

Orange County – Last week the US Supreme Court approved the inter partes review (IPR) process for patents, which many believe helps high-tech companies fight patent infringement lawsuits and “patent trolls” more easily and at a lower cost. The justices ruled 7-2 that the U.S Patent and Trademark Office’s in-house patent review does not violate a defendant’s right under the U.S. Constitution to have a case judged by a jury and federal court.
Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with the ruling. The case arose when Oil States International Inc., a Houston based company, disputed the legality of the inter partes review Read the rest

Los Angeles – LeBron James’ company, Uninterrupted, is being sued by Sebastian Jackson’s company, Adventure Enterprise, for trademark infringement. Jackson claims that Uninterrupted infringed his barbershop theme and “Shop Talk” trademark when creating the show “The Shop.” The Show made its debut during the 2017 NBA season and features LeBron James, Draymond Green, Charles Oakley, 2 Chainz, and others.

The barbershop themed shows both include guest speakers who talk about past experiences and success stories as they get their hair cut. Jackson trademarked the “Shop Talk” concept in 2016, listing it as an “organization of events for cultural pur Read the rest

Orange County – On March 27th, 2018, the Believeland website filed a trademark complaint against Cleveland’s Believeland Beer Festival for unauthorized use of the “Believeland” name. Believeland is a sports website that reports on sports news and sells apparel since 2008. The website owns three trademarks for the term “Believeland,” including for entertainment services and merchandise such as apparel and cups. Believeland originates from the Cleveland Browns football team.

Believeland Beer Festival was founded by Nathan Barnhart and Elaine Lau who have also planned events like the Rocky Run. By day, the married couple runs a business called Run Read the rest

San Diego – The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers, a No. 16 seed, had a win no one saw coming during March Madness in Charlotte, NC. The Retrievers played the Virginia Cavaliers, a Number 1 seed, and took the nation by surprise when they won the game in convincing fashion, 74-54. This marked the first time in the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that a Number 16 seed defeated a No. 1 seed.

Throughout the game, Jairus Lyles led the team to the win, as the whole team was energized from his confidence, which only seemed to shake Virginia more. The game really took a turn when Lyles made a three-pointer with 14:57 left on the Read the rest

Los Angeles – On Thursday, March 8th 2018, Nike filed a patent application for golfing glasses that show all types of data while playing. The glasses would allow golfers to track their ball and read putting greens with a heads-up display. Needless to say, if the glasses work as claimed, for golfers they could become as ubiquitous as golfing shoes and a visor.

Along with the patent, Nike filed a diagram illustrating a hi-tech golf ball which would communicate with the glasses. When paired together, the golf ball will send information back to the person wearing the glasses. The glasses have a display on a small screen so the golfer will be able to check the data seamless Read the rest

Orange County – Fresh off its first-ever Super Bowl win, on February 15th the Philadelphia Eagles filed a U.S. Trademark Application for “Philly Special” for apparel. The phrase “Philly Special” was made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl in relation to a trick play. The phrase was called out by the team in the second quarter, on a fourth-and-goal when QB Nick Foles caught the ball in the end zone. Days after the Super Bowl win the Eagles were already using the phrase on shirts with the team’s logo.

One problem for the Eagles is that on February 9th, six days earlier than the Eagles, D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. also filed a U.S. Trad Read the rest

San Diego – On Monday, February 12th, 2018, San Diego based Stone Brewing filed a lawsuit against MillerCoors for allegedly infringing the “Stone” trademark. According to Stone Brewing, during the rebranding of Keystone, MillerCoors has used the “Stone” trademark to potentially steal the customers and reputation of Stone Brewing.

Last April, the new Keystone cans were introduced with the word “Stone” standing out in capital letters. Later, Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch stated that MillerCoors was “deliberately creating confusion in the marketplace.” Koch continued to say MillerCoors was not only jeopardizing Stone Brewing’s reputation in Read the rest

San Diego – Amazon has won two patents for wristbands that inform employers what their employees are doing. The patents were originally filed in 2016 and were published on January 30, 2018. The wristband can track employee movement including how active the employee is which would be a measurement of productivity. The wristband could also track how often the employee took breaks, visited a restroom, and can even vibrate when a task is performed incorrectly or if an employee becomes too inactive.

Amazon has been known for testing products internally before putting them on the market. The patent descriptions vigilantly outline that the tracking wristbands are not to Read the rest