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Mealey's Trademarks

  • December 08, 2025

    Fla. Federal Judge Rules That Dueling Experts Can Testify In Trademark Row

    MIAMI — All opposing experts in a trademark dispute pending in a Florida federal court can testify, a judge ruled, finding that the arguments for exclusion under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. can best be resolved through cross-examination.

  • December 08, 2025

    Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Final Judgment For Lilly In Trademark Dispute

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge recommended that a Florida federal court grant Eli Lilly & Co.’s motion for a default final judgment after finding that a cosmetic weight loss center likely infringed on trademarks held by the company while selling a compounded version of tirzepatide.

  • December 05, 2025

    Judge Rebukes AI Use By Plaintiff In Counterfeiting Suit Against New Balance

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An “experienced” pro se litigant’s response to New Balance Athletics Inc.’s motion to dismiss his trademark infringement suit was riddled with factual errors, thanks to his use of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) program in drafting the response, an Arkansas federal judge held; the judge struck the response to the motion but also denied the motion itself.

  • December 05, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms TRO Enjoining OpenAI From Use Of ‘IO’ Mark

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) that bars a company recently purchased by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI LLC from using marks that could potentially cause confusion with another technology company with a similarly pronounced name.

  • December 05, 2025

    John R. Cash Trust Sues Coca-Cola Over ‘Infringing Ad’ In NCAA Marketing Campaign

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The John R. Cash Revocable Trust sued The Coca-Cola Co. in a Tennessee federal court, alleging violation of state laws and the Lanham Act over Coca-Cola’s “Infringing Ad” allegedly using a singing voice that is “identifiable and attributable to Johnny Cash” without permission in a 2025 NCAA college football advertising campaign on television networks and across social media platforms.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circuit: Judge Right To Toss ‘Diva Lawyer’ Mark Suit For Lack Of Jurisdiction

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 3 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss a California-based club’s trademark infringement suit against a Kentucky-based attorney over the use of the name “Diva Attorney,” agreeing with the judge that the club failed to show that the attorney had sufficient contacts with California to establish specific personal jurisdiction.

  • December 03, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Left Intact In IP Row Over Game Emulation Software

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied video game emulation software developers’ motion to reconsider a decision to grant a video game publisher’s request for a preliminary injunction in a dispute over trademarks and copyrights related to the video game EverQuest, finding that the defendants “essentially argue the Court was wrong in its decision” without further evidence.

  • December 01, 2025

    Judge: N.J. Hotel Must Pay Nearly $1.4 Million For Econo Lodge Infringement

    CAMDEN, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted summary judgment to the hotel company behind Econo Lodge, finding that the undisputed record showed that holdover franchisees continued to use trademarks related to the brand years after the termination of a franchise agreement, ordering the defendant entities to pay just short of $1.4 million in monetary damages, disgorgement and costs.

  • November 24, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Glovemaker’s Color Mark Genericness Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical product company will not have the opportunity to argue that its proposed trademark on the color of its medical gloves is not generic, as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its petition for a writ of certiorari in a Nov. 24 order list; the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) finding that the proposed mark was not distinctive.

  • November 21, 2025

    No Attorney Fees To Sports Medicine Company Cleared Of Infringement

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida denied a plaintiff sports medicine company’s motion for attorney fees, holding that its trademark dispute with another sports medicine company was not “exceptional” as defined in the Lanham Act despite the judge’s earlier grant of summary judgment in the plaintiff’s favor that led to an order canceling the defendant entity’s federally registered trademark.

  • November 20, 2025

    Campbell’s, Candidate For Congress Settle Suit Over Can Marks Use

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A candidate for Congress seeking to represent parts of Detroit and The Campbell’s Soup Co. settled their trademark dispute in a Michigan federal court, with the candidate agreeing to remove from her social media images that referenced the company’s soup can; the candidate had argued that her use of the can design was a parodic reference to her own last name.

  • November 17, 2025

    Canadian AI Company Must Face Copyright Claims, Federal Judge Says

    NEW YORK — Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere Inc. must face news publishers’ allegations that its Command product outputs copyrighted works and misattributes trademarks, a federal judge in New York said in denying a motion for partial dismissal.

  • November 14, 2025

    11th Circuit: Edible Arrangements’ Prior Claims Don’t Bar New IP Suit

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Georgia federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. in a trademark dispute brought by competitor Edible Arrangements LLC, finding that the appellant company’s most recent trademark infringement claims were not released by a 2016 settlement between the companies.

  • November 14, 2025

    Candidate Named Campbell Seeks Dismissal Of Soup Company’s IP Suit

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A candidate for Congress seeking to represent parts of Detroit is asking a federal judge in Michigan to dismiss a trademark infringement complaint filed against her by The Campbell’s Co. and a related entity, contending that her use of the company’s soup can design on social media is a parodic reference to her own last name; she also seeks the rejection of the company’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

  • November 13, 2025

    Judge Trims Trade Dress Claim From Insurance Platform Copying Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a defendant insurance company’s motion to partially dismiss a plaintiff technology company’s claim of trade dress infringement, agreeing with the insurer that the elements of the claimed trade dress were not adequately described in the technology company’s complaint that alleges “unauthorized cloning” of its online insurance platform.

  • November 13, 2025

    Federal Judge: No Preliminary Injunction In Row Over ‘Wild’ Trademarks

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied a preliminary injunction motion from a baby-goods maker that uses the trademark “Wildbird,” finding that the company failed to show it was likely that another baby-goods maker’s use of the marks related to the name “Wildride” would cause confusion among customers.

  • November 06, 2025

    Federal Judge Trims Some Defenses From ‘Impossible’ Trademark Row

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge partly granted summary judgment in favor of Impossible Foods Inc. in a dispute over the use of the word mark “Impossible,” agreeing that all of a defendant website entity’s affirmative defenses and certain of its damages theories failed, including its contention that Impossible’s suit was unreasonably delayed.

  • November 06, 2025

    Pa. Federal Judge: No Jurisdiction Over N.C. Advertiser In Trademark Row

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge granted a defendant advertising company’s motion to dismiss claims that it infringed a T-shirt company’s mark on the phrase “Rush Order Tees,” finding that the advertiser’s online advertising did not constitute the purposeful direction of conduct toward Pennsylvania for the purposes of establishing personal jurisdiction.

  • November 05, 2025

    No New Trial For Clothing Company That Used Penn State Marks

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge denied a clothing company’s July motion for either judgment as a matter of law in its favor or a new trial, holding that a jury had sufficient evidence to find that the company willfully infringed trademarks held by The Pennsylvania State University.

  • November 04, 2025

    Judge Tosses Perplexity Trademark Suit After Plaintiff Fails To Secure Counsel

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with prejudice a data analytics company’s trademark infringement complaint against artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI Inc. after the plaintiff entity repeatedly failed to heed court warnings that it could not appear pro se.

  • October 28, 2025

    Injunction Granted, Trademark Use Enjoined In Counterfeit Insurance Policy Dispute

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted a preliminary injunction to an insurance holding company barring a captive operator and its affiliates from using the holding company’s name and trademarks in connection with allegedly unauthorized insurance policies and certificates of insurance.

  • October 27, 2025

    5th Circuit Vacates Fees, Damages Against Law Firm Name Fakers In IP Fight

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment to a law firm on its trademark claims against a man and two attorneys who made a fake website using the law firm’s name as part of a landlord-tenant dispute, but the panel vacated more than $2 million in damages and fees the judge ordered to be paid to the real law firm, finding that the judge failed to explain the basis for the award.

  • October 23, 2025

    Judge Tosses Lawyer’s Suit Seeking Leave To Make Unlicensed NFL Shirts

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a complaint brought by a self-described “‘annoyance lawyer’” against NFL Properties LLC (NFLP), exercising judicial discretion to decline to proceed with a complaint seeking a declaration that he can make T-shirts bearing various NFL trademarks without running afoul of federal trademark laws.

  • October 17, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Fee Award Against Law Firm In Podcast Trademark Fight

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an attorney fee award against a law firm that represented a technology company that brought trademark claims against a podcast company over the name of one of its shows, holding that the case was “exceptional” as described in the Lanham Act because the underlying suit was frivolous and brought in bad faith in pursuance of a settlement.

  • October 17, 2025

    Glovemaker Seeks High Court Consideration Of Glove Color Mark Genericness

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical product company that saw its proposed trademark on the color of its medical gloves rejected as generic by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals asks the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari whether there is a “special rule” that applies to the generic nature of proposed color marks.