TM Blog
Google Books Fair Use Ruling to Stand
The Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari to the copyright infringement case against the Google Book program, effectively allowing the earlier appeals court decision that the program was protected by Fair Use to stand. Google Books scanned and made available through search millions of copyrighted works. However, users don't have access to the whole work, but instead can only access the pages found in search results. The non-action will certainly strengthen fair uses defenses for search results.
Amazon Sued for Selling Mercedes-Benz Replicas
Daimler AG has sued Amazon trademark infingement for selling replicas of Mercedes wheels. The wheels include Daimler trademarks. The interesting question here is what is Amazon's liability since it did not produce the wheels, and given the automated way products are added to Amazon's offerring, probably never reviewed by a human.
TTAB Appeals Houndstooth Order
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) vacated its precedential ruling that the University of Alabama has no claim to the houndstooth pattern as ordered by a district court, but now it is appealing the order to the 11th Circuit. The order was part of a settle between UA and the alleged infringer, and gave no cause as to why the precedent was in error.
Trade Dress and Medical Reports
The Ninth Circuit has agreed to review Millennium Laboratories trade-dress suit. Millennium is accessing its competitor Ameritox of using the design of Millennium's drug-test report. This will be an interesting trade-dress decision.
UCLA Law and Trademark Icons
The UCLA law school was ribbed for using trademarked icons the Rock Bank video games in an advertisement that honored a school alumnus. While one can use a trademarked name in some circumstances to identify a business or protect under the fair use doctrine, the use of logos does not fall under fair use.