In this episode of The Briefing by the IP Law Blog, Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss a Trademark dispute between luxury retailer Hermès and a digital artist over his creation of Birkin Bag NFTs.
Continue Reading The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Hermès Attempts to Bag Digital Creator Selling MetaBirkin NFTs
When entering into contracts, parties commonly include forum selection clauses to govern future litigation between the parties. When doing so, parties need to actively consider whether they intend that forum selection clause to prohibit filing petitions, such as petitions for inter partes review of patents, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has generally recognized that parties can bargain away these rights, including through forum selection clauses in contracts. This issue recently arose in Nippon Shinyaku v. Sarepta.
Continue Reading Be Careful Not to Unintentionally Bargain Away the Right to File IPRs
In what could be one of the biggest NFT cases to arise so far, Nike has sued resale marketplace StockX for trademark infringement in the Southern District of New York, claiming that StockX is selling NFTs that display Nike’s trademarks without Nike’s permission. In the Complaint, Nike alleges that StockX has infringed nine of its sneaker designs to create a line of NFTs that are part of its collection that StockX has branded the “Vault.” The collection consists entirely of allegedly unauthorized images of Nike sneakers. According to Nike, that’s because StockX is using Nike’s reputation and popularity to increase its sales. Specifically, Nike alleges that “Recognizing firsthand the immense value of Nike’s brands, StockX has chosen to compete in the NFT market not by taking the time to develop its own intellectual property rights, but rather by blatantly freeriding, almost exclusively, on the back of Nike’s famous trademarks and associated goodwill.”
Continue Reading Nike Tries to Stomp Out StockX’s Attempt to Sell NFTs of Nike Sneakers
In this episode of The Briefing from the IP Law Blog, Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss a trademark infringement lawsuit that was filed against a beauty influencer for a sponsored post she shared on social media.
Continue Reading The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Sponsored Post Lands Beauty Influencer in Trademark Infringement Lawsuit
INTERPROFESSION DU GRUYÈRE, et al., v. U.S. DAIRY EXPORT COUNCIL, et al., Twas all about exclusive right to control the use of Gruyere for cheeses in the US. This case began with a 2015 application by Interprofession du Gruyère, a Swiss registered association, and Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Gruyère , a French syndicat for a certification mark GRUYERE. A certification mark is used to certify regional or other origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy, or other characteristics of goods or services or that the work or labor on the goods or services was performed by members of a union or other organization. So, for example, the mark ROQUEFORT is used to certify cheese that comes from a specific municipality in France; UL or Underwriters Laboratories certifies, among other things, representative samplings of electrical equipment meeting certain safety standard.
Continue Reading Federal Judge Holds Swiss Cheese Makers’ Claim to Gruyere Full of Holes
