Author: Tiana Towns

Tiana is a Partner in Dorsey’s Construction & Design Group. Tiana works on a wide range of commercial litigation matters, but her focus on real estate, construction and design, government contracting, and intellectual property litigation in state and federal courts.

In Europe, There is No “Free Parking” for Re-Filers

In the much-anticipated Hasbro Inc. v. EUIPO (T-663/19) decision, the General Court of the European Union announced a new approach to evaluating bad faith in trademark filings and signaled a more aggressive stance toward the practice of “evergreening.” The dispute centered on Hasbro’s registered EU…

#BLACKLIVESMATTER: A Trademark or A Social Justice Movement

One of the many reasons the year 2020 will be memorable is for the social justice movements and demonstrations that have inspired a flood of new trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A recent search of the USPTO database revealed that there…

Jay-Z Has 99 Problems, and. . . Lack of Diversity Is One

Jay-Z and Iconix Brand recently settled a two-year old lawsuit centered on a $204 million licensing agreement. The settlement not only ends the federal lawsuit, but also ends an arbitration related to the suit which Jay-Z had petitioned to halt on novel grounds—i.e., lack of…

The SCOTUS Nominee on IP

Earlier this month Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to be the next United States Supreme Court justice.  If confirmed, he will replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.  Politics aside, Kavanaugh has lodged a lengthy stint as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C….

Graffiti Artists Tag Camuto Fashion House for Copyright Infringement

Earlier this month, four Los Angeles-based graffiti artists, “Rime,” “Host18,” “Taboo” and “Reme” filed suit against the Vince Camuto fashion house and related entities alleging copyright infringement for “inexplicably featur[ing] Plaintiffs’ murals” as “the centerpiece of a marketing campaign for their Spring/Summer 2017 line [ ] without Plaintiffs’…

Copyrighting a Dream

This week we celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King’s mission was to teach our nation the value of tolerance and mutual respect regardless of each person’s differences.  These lessons still ring true today as they did 50 years…