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  The Fort Worth-based airlines, American Airlines, recently took a detour in its attempt to obtain copyright registration for its new logo by filing a lawsuit against the Copyright Office in federal court in the Northern District of Texas. American, believing the Copyright Office’s determination to be wrong, has requested the federal judge overrule the department’s decision. The airline goes on to assert that the agency routinely accepts registration for logos that are no more, and in many cases less, creative than that of American. In June of 2016, American first filed for copyright registration of its new logo. A…

Dunkin’ Donuts recently announced its intention to drop “donuts” from its name. “Dunkin’” will continue to be featured in the familiar rounded font with an orange-and-pink color scheme. The name change was tested at a handful of Massachusetts restaurants late last year and apparently was successful. As such, commencing in January of 2019, the name change will officially take effect as part of a major rebrand of the company with the new name appearing on napkins, boxes, and signs at United States stores. The name change will eventually be adopted by the company’s international locations so that the company’s more…

A United States District Court Judge recently extinguished a lawsuit brought by a hairstylist against Gwen Stefani, Pharrell Williams, and Interscope Records alleging direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement based on defendants’ song, “Spark the Fire.” The lawsuit also included a separate conversion claim under California state law against Stefani only. Having been previously unsuccessful in obtaining a dismissal of the case when it was transferred from its original court in Colorado to California, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. Judge Dolly M. Gee granted this motion in favor of the defendants, finding the works in question were…

Indoor cycling has become one of the most competitor spaces in the fitness market, with many popular studios vying for consumers’ attention. Companies such as SoulCycle, which is now international, and Los Angeles-based Cycle House offer cycling classes where an instructor and participants exercise on stationary bikes with the instructor and music combining to motivate the riders. Peloton, on the other hand, offers a fitness experience unique and disparate from that previously offered by indoor cycling studios and gyms. Launched in 2012, Peloton is a high-tech fitness company known for its popular and trending home-fitness bike. In merely six years,…

CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary genome editing technology with a host of potential biotechnology applications and also, the subject of three-year long litigation between leading research institutes. During the period of 2011 to 2012, two research teams, one at the University of California-Berkeley and the other at the Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology-affiliated Broad Institute, were researching the same mechanism simultaneously yet separately. Finally, by the end of 2012, Dr. Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley published her findings on how to transform CRISPR from a natural bacterial mechanism into a laboratory-based genome editing tool. In 2013, Feng Zhang of the…

Rosie the Riveter has been a labor icon since World War II. Indeed, Rosie and her “We Can Do It!” message was used as a symbol of feminism and to boost morale for females working in factories during the war. Artist J. Howard Miller designed the poster in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric, who had hired him to create a series of posters to display to the company’s workers. Interestingly, the name “Rosie” was not originally associated with the picture and instead, the iconic woman was dubbed “Rosie” when the poster was rediscovered in 1982 in the U.S. National Archives.

What impact will Brexit have on your trademarks? Any person or company holding an EU Trademark (EUTM) must review its position in light of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union at midnight on Friday, March 29, 2019.  The UK government may agree to an arrangement whereby existing rights will automatically transfer, with or without a fee, but currently there is no agreement in place.  It has been the practice that if a trademark was used in the UK and Ireland, that should constitute sufficient use to enjoy protection in all member states.  When the UK leaves the EU, a…

Red Bull recently filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against a wholesaler for distributing gray market energy drink products in this country. Intended for sale in South Africa and not in the United States, Red Bull asserted the unauthorized energy drinks violated Federal Drug Administration requirements as well as Red Bull’s intellectual property rights. More particularly, the energy drink giant accused Quality Wholesale Distributors of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and trademark dilution. Quality allegedly has been involved in the importation, sale, promotion, and distribution of the gray market Red Bull drinks.…

A “Rick and Morty” themed pop-up bar, located at the “Wubba Lubba Dub PUB” in D.C., was forced to close down merely one day after opening because negotiations with Turner Broadcasting and Cartoon Network fell through. Drink Company, the entity behind the pop-up, announced intentions to execute this “schwifty” experience without first seeking permission or a license from the network. The pop-up was planned to run from August 9 until October 6 but experienced a one week delay in opening due to hopeful negotiations with Turner Broadcasting. In the weeks prior to the bar opening, an attorney for Drink Company…