Trademarks Law Blog

About two years ago, the University of Southern California asserted its
rights to use "USC" against University of South Carolina who wanted to
use the those letters on its athletic uniforms.  Southern California
prevailed and South Carolina cannot use those letters even though those
letters are the initials of the school.



Now, the University of Alabama has been in a long battle with an artist
named Daniel Moore. ... Read More

For various reasons, none of which really have to do with the quality of
the product, I am not a huge fan of Lululemon ("Lulu") wear.  I prefer
Lucy.  But, judging from the the Lulu to Lucy ratio at my gym alone, I
think Lulu is the apparel of choice.  According to a recent Wall Street
Journal article, Lulu has been growing at an exponential pace--posting
nine quarters of a 30% increase in sales over the past three years. 
... Read More

The saga continues.  True Religion jeans maker just obtained a $864
million judgment against online Chinese counterfeiters.  About 280
Chinese websites using domain names like truereligion4cheap.com, were
selling counterfeit goods and infringing on True Religions' trademarks. 
Not surprisingly, the Chinese companies did not appear in court.  As
such, the New York Federal Court issued a default judgment for the $864
million amount,... Read More

A long time ago, I wrote an article for the local Chamber of Commerce
publication discussing how Silver Oak Winery had such a strong brand
for its Cabernet that it did not want to use it for its Merlot.  The
article can be found here: 
http://www.mcclimanlawfirm.com/pdf/June.2004-ICC%20Article.pdf  

Recently,
Nissan has done something similar with its Datsun brand.  For those of
you who are old enough to remember... Read More

In another twist in China's continuing unabashed intellectual property
infringement, a Chinese company has registered the trademark "iPad" in
China.  Its registration allowed it to have authorities seize the
ubiquitous tablet from store shelves in Northern China.  The Chinese
company is Proview Technology.



Apple is fairly aggressive in protecting its intellectual property--it
has chased Samsung with patent... Read More

Former employees of In-N-Out Burger Steal the restaurant's concept and take it to China.... Read More

In 2016, the NFL's big game will be its 50th.  If the NFL maintains its
use of Roman numerals to denote the number, then that Super Bowl will be
Super Bowl "L."  Yes, "L" as in "Loser" or the "L-word."  Not a
connotation that the macho NFL will necessarily want.  It is not like it
is the sexy Super Bowl "XXX" of 1996 or the suggestive Super Bowl "LIX"
of 2025.  According to a... Read More

A while ago, a friend of a friend asked me for some advice regarding a
cease and desist letter their organization received from the owner of
the trademark "Iron Man" (World Triathlon Organization).  Their
organization held team races which used the term "Iron Man"
descriptively (i.e. to denote that the race would not include any
substitutions, so that each person on the team had to "iron man" the
race).  Not... Read More