The Scotts Company, LLC, a leading provider of home and garden pest control solutions, ran a sweepstakes where consumers were invited to review — good or bad — a Scotts product for a chance to win a $25 gift card. We assume there was also…
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, prohibits users of copyrighted works from circumventing technological measures placed on those works (e.g., encryption), subject to limited exemptions. Some of the exemptions are permanent, such as reverse engineering to ensure interoperability. Other exemptions are revisited…
Longstanding interpretation of the Copyright Act establishes that recipes are not copyrightable. The reasoning for this determination is twofold: cooking ingredients are considered statements of fact, and instructions for food preparation are deemed merely functional directions. A recent appellate court involving a plaintiff with the…
In trademark and advertising disputes, one question frequently rises to the top of the discussion between counsel and client: “Do we need a consumer survey?” Because well-designed surveys can act as proxies for what is happening in the marketplace among relevant consumers, many courts and…
Grammar guides advise that “compare to” is the proper formulation when two things are similar — as in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” — whereas “compare with” should be used to point out dissimilarity or contrast. In the legal context, both NAD…
In a surprise move, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals withdrew its earlier decision in Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com and issued a new opinion holding that the online behemoth is not liable to specialty watch maker Multi Time Machine, Inc. (“MTM”) for trademark…
In a closely-watched dispute stretching back to 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an important copyright “fair use” decision in Lenz v. Universal. It all began in 2007 when a woman known as Ms. Stephanie Lenz was inspired by her toddler…
Google’s quest to assemble an enormous digital library of books got a big boost from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc. The key issue in this longstanding legal battle was whether Google could scan the works still under copyright and make…
The National Advertising Division is already gearing up for winter, with a recent decision on the tagline “Lightest. Warmest. Guaranteed” for down jackets marketed by Eddie Bauer. Eddie Bauer, LLC, Report #5875 (NAD Case Reports ___). The decision provides useful guidance on the line…
This past summer, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued two decisions providing valuable insights on how the TTAB should evaluate evidence of third party marks and compare marks as a whole in the likelihood of confusion analysis in opposition proceedings. See Juice Generation,…
Jeffrey CadwellJeff advises clients on the availability, registrability, and stre...
Michael KeyesJ. Michael Keyes is an intellectual property attorney with exten...
Kaleb McNeelyAs a partner in the Trial Group, Kaleb practices primarily in the ...
Sarah RobertsonSarah has over fifteen years’ experience helping clients prot...
Fara SunderjiFara assists clients in the development and execution of all type...
Charlene KroghCharlene Krogh is a Partner in Dorsey’s top-ranked Tradem...
Evan EveristEvan is a partner in Dorsey’s Trademark, Copyright and Adverti...