The Eagles have sued Hotel California Baja, LLC, in the Central District of California [2:17-cv-03276] for trademark infringement. Hotel California Baja owns a small hotel in Todos Santos, Mexico that opened in 1950 under the name Hotel California, but subsequently went through a number of name changes over the years. The Eagles allege that to revitalize the hotel and create a reputation for it,the hotel has promoted a reputed, but false, connection to the Hotel in the famous Eagles song. The Eagles complain that defendant runs a merchandising operation that manufactures and sells a wide variety of clothing and other merchandise featuring their HOTEL CALIFORNIA mark. There’s not much chance that the Eagle will Take it Easy on this one.
Author Archives: bwheelock
Studios Fire Back: Fictional Publication Depicted in a Movie is Privileged Expressive Use
Following up a previous post about the February 2017 lawsuit filed by the Sporting Times against Orion Pictures for depicting a fictional magazine title Sporting Times of the same title in a movie about the life of Bill “Spaceman” Lee, MGM has responded with a Motion to Dismiss. Defendants argue that the use in the movie was not a trademark use, and in any even any theory of a likelihood of confusion was “too implausible to support costly litigation.” The defendants also affirmative asserted a First Amendment bar to the Sporting Times claims, and arguing that the test from Rogers v. Grimaldi applies and the Sporting Times claims should be dismissed unless the use of the mark has no artistic relevance to the underlying work whatsoever, or, if it has some artistic relevance, unless the title explicitly misleads as to the source or the content of the work.
The Motion pointed out the burden of getting permission from every brand potentially appearing in a expressive work, such as defendants movies, and concluded:
Happily for filmmakers and their audiences (and for the creators of other expressive works), the Lanham Act does not grant trademark owners such veto power over the content of expressive works.
Non-Trademark Use is a Non-Infringing Use
In Oaklawn Jockety Club, Inc. v. Kentucky_Downs, LLC, [16-5582] (Sixth Circuit April 19, 2017), the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court dismissal of plaintiff’s trademark infringement action because defendant’s use of plaintiffs’ trademarks in its electronic horse racing games was not likely to cause confusion. Although the case was designated “NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION,” it makes an important point about trademark infringement: defendant must use plaintiff’s trademark as a trademark.
The district court found, and the Sixth Circuit agreed, that defendant’s marks in its animated video recreations of actual historic horse races, in order to identify the location of the race, was not a trademark use.
The Sixth Circuit noted that the term “Location” preceding the trademarks sufficiently explains to consumers that the trademarks are being used in a wholly descriptive
manner and does not cause a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the video. The Sixth Circuit added that the fact that the replay is entirely generic and does not visually depict the plaintiffs’ facilities further supports this conclusion.
Because this was a non-trademark use of plaintiffs’ trademarks, the Sixth Circuit did not have to reach the question whether the fair-use defense applied. As the Supreme Court said in Prestonettes, Inc. v. Coty, 264 U.S. 359, 368 (1924). “When the mark is used in a way that does not deceive the public we see no such sanctity in the word as to prevent its being used to tell the truth.”
The Skinny on SkinnyPop vs. Metacalfe’s Skinny
A interesting battle has “popped” up between Amplify Snack Brands, Inc., owner of the SKINNYPOP trademark, and Snyders-Lance, which is preparing to enter the market with METCALFE’S SKINNY POPCORN. Amplify sued Snyders-Lance in federal court in Texas on April 11. Amplify accused Snyders-Lance of willful infringement in an obvious attempt to confuse customers. Meanwhile, Snyders-Lance sued Amplify the same day in North Carolina for a declaration that it is not infringing Amplify’s rights.
Popcorn appears to part of a larger plan by Kettle Foods Ltd. to introduce a whole line fo METCALFE SKINNY products including fruit-based snack food; nut-based snack food; fruit chips, low-fat potato chips, nuts, potato chips, bread, pastry and confectionery made of sugar, cereal bars; cereal-based snack food; corn-based snack food; crackers; rice-based snack food; rice cakes U.S. Application Nos. 87160093, 87160099, 87160107, 87160109, 87160114, 87160123).
Whether SKINNY is capable of identifying source is an open question. There 116 issued registrations and 69 pending applications on marks including the term “SKINNY” for food products. Only 9 of the registrations disclaim of “skinny,” and only 10 of the applications (including all of Kettle Foods Ltd.’s applications) disclaim “skinny.” Lance also points out that there is at least one other SKINNY popcorn already in the market: SKINNYGIRL:
If not descriptive of food, SKINNY is certainly widely used, so whether Amplify’s can show METCALFE’S SKINNY POPCORN infringes SKINNYPOP POPCORN will be interesting. Kettle Foods Ltd. will likely contend, consistent with its disclaimer of “skinny” that its use of skinny is a permitted descriptive use under 15 USC §1115(b)(4). Amplify reportedly has $200 million in popcorn sales, so this could be a epic battle. Get a bowl of your favorite popcorn, and pull up a chair.
Policing the Trademark Playground and Calling Out Bullies
The prevailing defendant in Louis Vuitton v, My Other Bag, LLC (blogged about here: Louis Vuitton Left Holding the Bag) in a Motion filed on April 7 in the Southern District of New York (Case 1:14-cv-03419-JMF Document 154) is seeking $802,939.05 in fees and costs for defending Louis Vuitton’s claim that MOB’s parody bag infringed or diluted Louis Vuitton’s rights:
MOB argues that a fee award is justified because Louis Vuitton is a trademark bully. “Trademark bully” is a term that is being used with increasing frequency. See Three Stripes and You’re Out. MOB used the term “bully” at least 13 times in its motion for fees.
Trademark Owners are put in a difficult position. The failure to aggressively enforce their rights, can allow third party uses that either weaken the mark in a likelihood of confusion analysis, or lessen its fame and distinctiveness in a dilution analysis. A trademark owner may (rightly) feel forced to take actions that it might otherwise be inclined to tolerate. And outside of the costs of enforcement, there has been little consequence to bringing such a claim.
An award of attorneys fees and costs in appropriate cases, may be exactly what is needed to tip the scales when enforcement decisions are being made. It is up to the Southern District of New York to judge the propriety of Louis Vuitton’s enforcement efforts, and decide whether or not the name “bully” is appropriate.
You Can’t Fake Confusion; “STEAK” is different from “FRESH”
The Court in Phelan Holdings, Inc. v. Rare Hospitality Management, Inc., [8:15-CV-2294-T-30TBM) (M.D. Fla. March 27, 2017), granted summary judgement that the slogan “You Can’t Fake Steak” is not confusingly similar to “You Can’t Fake Fresh.”
The Court noted that Phelan’s Pinchers Crab Shacks are bright, open air restaurants, painted in pastel colors. The walls are adorned with beachy, Florida-themed decorations, such as driftwood signs, mounted fish, large oars, and Caribbean artifacts. Phelan registered YOU CAN’T FAKE FRESH with the USPTO. In contrast, Rare’s LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants are a chain of Western-themed casual steakhouse designed as a Texas-style roadhouse. Rare registered YOU CAN’T FAKE STEAK with the USPTO.
On summary judgment Phelan abandoned its confusion claims, asserting only a reverse reverse confusion theory. The Court noted that Both marks incorporate the common buzz phrase “You Can’t Fake . . .,” but that the last word of each mark, i.e., Fresh vs. Steak, is completely different with a different meaning. An important fact for the court appeared to that do not encounter either mark apart from the parties’ respective house mark. The Court discounted Phelan’s linguistic expert because he focused on the first three words of the mark, and ignored the fact that the words “Fresh” and “Steak” are different, and did not account for the parties use of their house marks in connection with their marks, The Court also attached a lot of significance to the differences in the parties restaurants. The Court discounted Phelan’s survey evidence because the survey only tested forward confusion (finding between 13% and 26% confusion) , because the Phalen was asserting reverse confusion, not forward confusion.
Based on the Court’s analysis of the seven factors, Phelan failed to adduce sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable jury could find a likelihood of confusion between YOU CAN’T FAKE FRESH and YOU CAN’T FAKE STEAK. This was despite Phalen presenting both a linguistic expert and a survey expert. Apparently you can’t fake confusion.
Variations on a Theme
A few attempts have been made to protect a “theme” rather than a specific mark. U.S. Reg. No. 4834592 protects “a three dimensional trade dress depicting the appearance and design of the interior of a restaurant evoking a Mexican wrestling theme.”
However it is doubtful that the the protection afforded by this registration is as broad as the optimistic description. The registrant is unlikely to be able to protect this “theme” apart from the various features depicted in the drawing.
Similarly, Reg. Nos. 4783688 and 4830189 protects the “three-dimensional trade dress configuration depicting the interior of a retail beverage store evoking the theme of an aviation airfield.”
Again, despite the broad reference to theme, the registered marks are not likely to be infringed unless the pictured elements are present.
Three Stripes and You’re Out
On March Adidas American, Inc. sued Juicy Couture, Inc., in the District of Oregon (3:17-cv-00437), alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution, deceptive trade practices, and breach of contract. This suit comes just a few weeks after Forever 21, frustrated by Adidas’ efforts to eliminate stripes from clothing, sued Adidas calling Adidas a “trademark bully.”
Juicy Couture arguably has three stripes on its clothing, but the stripes are not all the same, whether this is different enough to avoid a likelihood of confusion remains to be seen:
Not all enforcement efforts are legitimate, but neither is all enforcement bullying.
To The Relief of Seargants Everywhere, Forever 21 Challenges Adidas’ Three Stripe Marks
On March 3 Forever 21, Inc. sued Adidas American, Inc. in the Central District of California (2:17-cv-01752) asking for a declaration that its clothing decorated with stripes does not infringe Adidas’ trademarks, and suggesting that Adidas is a trademark bully:
Looking at the examples identified by Forever 21 (no doubt carefully chosen), one might sympathize with Forever 21’s frustration:
Forever 21 alleges that Adidas has sued clothing and footwear manufacturers who have 
used two stripes, four stripes, stripes with multiple widths and colors, and it has even sued over garments that Adidas is not known for making. Feeling deprived of the ability to enjoy “an unfettered right to design and sell clothing with ornamental, decorative striped designs” and to the relief of seargants everyone, Forever 21 seeks a declaration that its striped clothing does not infringe any trademark rights owned by Adidas.
Trademark owners often feel compelled, if not required, to pursue any colorable infringement, lest third party uses interfere with the likelihood of confusion or likelihood of dilution analyses when there is a use of more serious concern. Moreover, there is little protection from the victims of aggressive enforcement. Sometimes an overly aggressive enforcer will catch the attention of the internet, and be shamed into behaving, but this is not typical. The courts’ application of the Octane Fitness case to trademark cases offers some relief from frivolous claims, but only for those who have the resources to defend the litigation, and this doesn’t happy too often, for true bullies rarely pick on someone their own size.
While most infringement defendants probably regard the plaintiff as a bully, the majority of enforcement efforts are driven by a genuine concern about protecting the mark. However there are instances where trademark owners bullying third parties, asserting claims far beyond what their actual rights protect. There are not many effective remedies when this occurs, but if certain trademark owners are not more careful, the problem may be addressed for example with more robust fair use defenses or other measures that could make enforcement more difficult or less certain.
Trademark Scammers Abound
There are still a number of entities out there trying to trick trademark owners into spending money to list their marks in various on line and print directories by sending official looking invoices and other paperwork. In the last month, one client received ten such solicitations, from six different entities:
- IP Direct International Patent & Trademark Directory
- Patent & Trademark Office
- Patent & Trademark Bureau
- International Catalogue of Trademarks
- TPP Trademark & Patent Publications
- GLOPAT Global Patents & Trademarks
The practice is so pervasive, that this same client also received a warning letter from the UK Intellectual Property Office, warning about “unofficial trade mark renewal services” and identifying two such agencies in particular:
- Patent and Trade Mark Agency Limited
- Trade Mark Renewal Services Limited
Not only to trademark owners have to watch out for infringers, they need to watch out for scammers as well.