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Trademark Infringement

Jun 9, 2023

Ruff day in court: Supreme Court sides with Jack Daniel’s in dispute with makers of dog toy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave whiskey maker Jack Daniel’s reason to raise a glass, handing the company a new chance to win a trademark dispute with the makers of the Bad Spaniels dog toy. In announcing the decision for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan was in an unusually playful mood. […]

Oct 6, 2017

Everyone’s Carolina

In a case of dueling dentists, the state Business Court has found that the word ‘Carolina’ is something to be shared.

Jun 11, 2015

Stop being like Mike

Michael Jordan is taking a trademark dispute with a Chinese sports firm to China’s highest court. Last month the representative for the Hall of Fame basketball player said China’s supreme court will be taking the case of Jordan, along with several others, accusing local firms of imitating global brand names. Jordan brought a lawsuit against […]

Apr 16, 2015

Pizza pretender

When the yellow shield logo hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s a trademark violation.

Apr 26, 2012

Intellectual Property – Trademark Infringement – Civil Practice – Res Judicata & Collateral Estoppel

Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP v. Von Drehle Corp. Plaintiff has filed a number of suits around the country alleging that defendant or its distributors infringed plaintiff’s trademark when they sold paper towels designed to fit into plaintiff’s enMotion paper towel dispensers. Plaintiff’s claim in this case is precluded by decisions in other courts that defendant’s actions d[...]

Mar 14, 2012

Intellectual Property – Trademark Infringement – Radio Farm News – Other Uses – Laches Defense

Ray Communications Inc. v. Clear Channel Communications Inc. Although plaintiff communications company, which registered the Agrinet service mark in 1972 and has used it for radio broadcast of farm news, acknowledges it permitted certain uses of the Agrinet mark in some local markets by predecessors of defendant Clear Channel Inc., the district court erred in granting defendant summary ju[...]

Feb 4, 2011

Civil Practice – Venue – Transfer – ‘First-Filed’ – Special Circumstances – Settlement Negotiations – Breakdown – Intellectual Property – Trademark & Copyright Infringement

Family Dollar Stores, Inc. v. Overseas Direct Import Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-04-0103, 9 pp.) (Richard L. Voorhees, J.) W.D.N.C. Holding: The parties were engaged in settlement discussions, and when those settlement discussions broke down, it was reasonable for plaintiff to expect defendant to file a trademark and copyright infringement action; in fact, defendant had […]

Nov 30, 2010

Intellectual Property – Trademark-Infringement Claim – Priority – Prior Use – Corporate Dissolution – Federal Registration – Abandonment

Daniel Group v. Service Performance Group, Inc. Even though defendant's predecessor-in-interest, an Illinois corporation, was dissolved for nearly five years before defendant was incorporated in North Carolina, the shareholders of both corporations continued to use the . . .

Nov 3, 2010

Ethics Committee nixes lawyer’s Web marketing strategy

Internet marketing is nothing new, but a few attorneys in North Carolina are trying a tactic that has caught the attention of the N.C. State Bar. It works like this: A lawyer purchases a keyword or a phrase though Google's AdWords service so that when a consumer types in that keyword or phrase, the attorney's ad pops up on the screen along with the search engine results. Attorney J. Mark Wilson (p[...]

Aug 13, 2010

Intellectual Property – Trademark Infringement – Paper Towel Dispenser

Georgia Pacific Consumer Products LP v. Von Drehle Corp. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-01-0787, 26 pp.) (Hamilton, J.) No. 09-1942, Aug. 10, 2010; USDC at Raleigh (Boyle, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: In this dispute over defendant von Drehle’s sale of allegedly inferior paper toweling for use in “touchless” paper towel dispensers designed by plaintiff Georgia Pacific […]

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