Newsletters

08.25.20

Supreme Court: Generic Word Combined With ‘.com’ Held Trademark Eligible

In U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., the Supreme Court held, in an 8-1 decision, that a generic word combined with the top-level domain “.com” can be a federally protectable trademark if it has secondary meaning to consumers.


07.28.20

Thin Pad and Soft Pad Chairs Held Eligible for Trade Dress Protection

In Blumenthal Distrib. Inc. d/b/a Office Star v. Herman Miller, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, held that the overall appearance of Herman Miller Inc.’s Eames chairs was eligible for trade dress protection because it was not functional.


05.12.20

Supreme Court: State Official Annotations to Code Not Copyrightable

The Supreme Court ruled against Georgia in a copyright claim that the state filed against Public.Resource.Org Inc., for distributing the state annotated code.


08.02.18

Appellate Courts Pass on Embedded Link, Publicity Rights Cases

In appellate news, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declined to consider a high-profile copyright case involving embedded links while the California Supreme Court passed on actress Olivia de Havilland’s publicity rights challenge to an FX television show.


07.26.18

Bedding Company Files Trademark Suit Against Amazon

Amazon infringed on Comphy’s trademark by posting results for “inferior third-party sheets” when consumers searched for terms like “comph” and “comphy” on the Amazon site, according to a new Illinois federal court complaint.