Trademark Law

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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

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

In this episode of The Briefing from the IP Law Blog, Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss a trademark dispute between UGG and an Australian shoemaker who attempted to sell a boot called “UGG”.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Boots Australian Boot Maker’s Appeal for Attempting to Use Ugg’s Trademark

In November 2021, fast-food chain Jack in the Box sued FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2019, over an allegedly infringing mascot named Lunar, referred to as “Moon Man”. FTX featured its Moon Man character in commercials running during MLB games. Jack in the Box is not happy.

In its complaint filed in Federal court in California, Jack in the Box references various tweets regarding the FTX Moon Man – “Oh look, it’s Walmart Jack in the Box!”, “Is it a dirty jack in the box thing?”, and “Jack in the Box’s drugged up cousin”.  One Twitter® user even tweeted a public post directly to FTX stating, “Hey, @FTX_Official, your mascot doesn’t look like the moon. He looks like Jack-In-The-Box with skin cancer.” …
Continue Reading Jack in the Box Pops a Spring Over FTX “Moon Man” Mascot