43(B)log

AUGUST 11, 2021

Although in the copyright decision, the court made reference to “rather surprising oversights,” UpCodes corrected issues when notified by ICC. UpCodes, Inc., 2021 WL 1236106, Nos. 6261 (VM) & 20 Civ. 4316 (VM) (S.D.N.Y.

False Advertising 64

False Advertising Copying Advertising Advertising 64

43(B)log

DECEMBER 18, 2023

15, 2023) Simpson sued its competitor MiTek for using Simpson part numbers for structural connectors/fasteners for use in the construction industry in its catalogs/other promotional material; the court here, after a nonjury trial before the magistrate judge, rather comprehensively rejects its false advertising, trademark, and copyright claims. (It

False Advertising 64

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Copyright 64

IP Tech Blog

MARCH 6, 2023

JC Penny, for example, has been hit with a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of California over its alleged advertising practice of using “false reference pricing.” The products, Carranza claims , were never sold at the listed reference price as advertised. Do the claims have merit?

False Advertising 62

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Settlement 62

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

DECEMBER 9, 2022

Someone has referred you here because you’ve said something wrong about the laws related to web scraping in the United States. You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About The First Amendment.” The prior part explained the most recent ruling, a devastating but not unexpected loss for hiQ. Don’t worry! You’re not alone.

Blogging 131

Blogging Law Contracts Cease and Desist 131

43(B)log

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

The parties previously partnered nonexclusively so that PureThink would sell and support the commercial version of Neo4j; upon termination, PureThink expressly agreed to “cease using any trademarks, service marks and other designations of Plaintiffs.” Summary judgment granted on state and federal false advertising claims.

False Advertising 64

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Licensing 64

43(B)log

JUNE 17, 2022

7, 2022) The court upheld a contempt finding based on an underlying false advertising claim. Also, a press release that discussed separate litigation in Italy about who owned VSL#3’s bacterial strains, unfairly compared VSL#3 and Visbiome referred to plaintiffs’ “aggressive efforts to sell their competing, generic probiotic product.”

False Advertising 64

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Litigation 64

43(B)log

JULY 24, 2023

Amgen argued that there was no impact because the ads didn’t refer to Sandoz or Ziextenzo, and Sandoz couldn’t identify a single patient, prescriber, or insurer that would have used Ziextenzo but chose Onpro because of the advertising claims. Sandoz Inc. 2023 WL 4681569 , No. 2:22-cv-05326-RGK-MARx (C.D.

False Advertising 92

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Marketing 92

43(B)log

OCTOBER 6, 2021

17, 2020) A lot of stuff here; I will ignore the non-false advertising related aspects of this mostly antitrust case. The court says the usual not-good things about false advertising’s relationship to antitrust, unfortunately: Deceptive speech usually doesn’t violate antitrust laws. 17-md-2785-DDC-TJJ (D.

False Advertising 45

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Marketing 45

LexBlog IP

MARCH 6, 2023

JC Penny, for example, has been hit with a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of California over its alleged advertising practice of using “false reference pricing.” The products, Carranza claims , were never sold at the listed reference price as advertised. Do the claims have merit?

False Advertising 52

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Settlement 52

43(B)log

JANUARY 27, 2023

24, 2023) WS sued Wayfair, alleging patent infringement, Lanham Act false advertising, Massachusetts and California statutory unfair competition and Massachusetts false advertising based on alleged copying of West Elm products. Wayfair moved to dismiss the false advertising and unfair competition claims.

False Advertising 59

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Designs 59

43(B)log

DECEMBER 15, 2023

were not designed to protect originality or creativity.” “Yet Yet that is precisely what Plaintiff seeks to protect in this case: the originality and novelty of its own cooler design.” There was no meaningful distinction between claims of being the “first” and claims of inventorship.

False Advertising 45

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Intellectual Property 45

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

APRIL 27, 2024

This is a false advertising lawsuit again the mobile app game Game of Thrones: Conquest. The design elements use “a contrasting font color” making the notice legible on the dark background. The account formation process included a screen where a user could proceed only by clicking on the “play” button: Warner Bros.

False Advertising 98

False Advertising Government Privacy Design 98

43(B)log

AUGUST 26, 2021

5, 2021) The plaintiff benefits from very generous treatment of its false designation and copyright claims, in the process stripping false designation of anything other than a prohibition on copying/vitiating both Wal-Mart and Dastar. 2021 WL 1253803, No. 20-cv-06957-VKD (N.D. The court agreed!

Designs 64

Designs Design Copying Copyright Infringement 64

43(B)log

AUGUST 25, 2021

Plaintiff alleges that subscribers “universally understand[ ] that a product designated ‘O’ is an [over-the-counter (“OTC”) ] drug, available over-the-counter and without physician supervision.” Although Alfasigma’s products were historically designated as F, First Databank reclassified them as O.

False Advertising 72

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Designs 72

43(B)log

APRIL 15, 2024

GMP owns two federally registered trademarks: the “GOOD MEAT” standard character mark and the “GOOD MEAT BREAKDOWN” design mark. The court denies a preliminary injunction on the trademark claims based on lack of likely success on the merits, but declines to dismiss either infringement or false advertising claims.

False Advertising 64

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Marketing 64

43(B)log

MARCH 27, 2023

24, 2023) Courts in particular kinds of false advertising cases say that scientific claims are not falsifiable, even as the majority of workaday false advertising claims involving scientific fact are (correctly) treated as falsifiable. American Soc’y of Anesthesiologists, Inc., 4th -, 2023 WL 2621131, No. 22-1411 (3d Cir.

Journalism 111

Journalism False Advertising Advertising Advertising 111

43(B)log

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Design Gaps, Inc. 21, 2023) Design Gaps produces custom cabinetry for high-end homes; Hall is a former employee of Design Gaps who signed a nonsolicitation/noncompete clause but went to work for a design studio that was part of Design Gaps’ main competition, Peters. Hall, 2023 WL 8103156, No.

Copying 45

Copying False Advertising Designs Design 45

43(B)log

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Plaintiff alleged that Sazerac designed this malt version to look just like the original one, misleading consumers in violation of New York laws on deceptive practices and false advertising. Sazerac didn’t explain why it couldn’t use “Malt Beverage with Natural Flavors” (or some other general reference) instead.

False Advertising 59

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Design 59

43(B)log

AUGUST 26, 2022

PennEngineering claims a PEM family of marks and sued Peninsula for trademark infringement, counterfeiting, false advertising, and unfair competition. the design Peninsula, like PennEngineering, makes floating fasteners with square-in-square designs. Nor did the existence of other designs disprove functionality.

False Advertising 59

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Trademark 59

43(B)log

JANUARY 27, 2023

That supplier worked with a foreign supplier to mimic the Stiles Razor, using “photographs and physical samples of the Stiles razor as references.” The remaining design patent claims also failed. The accused design’s grip was also contoured and textured, not angular and smooth.

False Advertising 59

False Advertising Design Patent Designs Design 59

43(B)log

JULY 20, 2022

CC has a recent trademark registration for a design mark “consist[ing] of the stylized wording ‘COLOR COPPER.COM”, [with] a diamond shape between the wording ‘COLOR’ and ‘COPPER’ made up of four smaller diamonds, each diamond having a pattern inside of it,” COPPER.COM disclaimed. There’s no written agreement” will do it.]

False Advertising 72

False Advertising Ownership Registration Design 72

43(B)log

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Elysium argued that Right of Assembly was “a marketing website for Tru Niagen for which ChromaDex pays commissions to Shelly Albaum for Tru Niagen customers referred through the website.” Thus, any false advertising claim would lie against Albaum, not [directly] against ChromaDex.

Advertising 80

Advertising Advertising False Advertising Marketing 80

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

JUNE 23, 2024

After remand, the case went back to the Ninth Circuit, which held that anti-threat classifications might be Lanham Act false advertising. That putatively means that the court would characterize all threat identifications as “advertising.” Bolger Factors 2 and 3: Reference to Specific Product and Economic Motivation.

Law 59

Law False Advertising Advertising Advertising 59

Technology & Marketing Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

It claims to focus on “counterfeits” that could harm consumer “health and safety,” but those are both lies designed to make the bill seem narrower and more balanced than it actually is. However, this bill is itself a giant counterfeit. Unlike the other services, these services get a 6 month phase-in period).

Trademark 144

Trademark False Advertising Advertising Advertising 144

43(B)log

MARCH 20, 2023

WatsonSeal Marketing sued for false advertising under the Lanham Act, tortious interference with business relations under Alabama law, and unjust enrichment under Alabama law, but, having kicked out the Lanham Act claims, the court didn’t proceed any further with the state claims. Nor was it concededly an ad.

False Advertising 60

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Marketing 60

43(B)log

MARCH 14, 2024

11, 2024) I have a long-running interest in Rule 68 offers of judgment, and this case involves an interaction with false advertising law! This judgment of infringement comes nearly one year to the day after Crocs filed lawsuits against 21 companies alleging infringement of its registered trademark rights in its clog designs. …

False Advertising 59

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Branding 59

SpicyIP

APRIL 17, 2023

To Be or Not To Be (Design): Calcutta HC Sways Against Trend of Denying Design Registrations Over GUIs Image from here Can a GUI be regarded as a Design? In what follows, Rahul Bajaj sets out the key arguments of the parties and the holding of the court, along with his analysis of the judgment.

Advertising 105

Advertising Advertising Confidentiality Trademark 105

43(B)log

JUNE 14, 2022

May 25, 2022) Alcon sued Lens.com for federal and state false advertising and trademark claims. 1994), “before considering consumer survey evidence, a district court must, first, determine whether the designation of geographic origin is ‘geographically descriptive.’ The Lanham Act false advertising counterclaim was dismissed.

False Advertising 72

False Advertising Trademark Advertising Advertising 72

43(B)log

JANUARY 11, 2023

9, 2023) Simpson sued MiTek for Lanham Act and state law false advertising/passing off, and for copyright infringement. Each product name has a “part name” (a letter or combination of letters designating the product line) and a “model number” (additional numbers and letters that distinguish parts with different attributes).

False Advertising 45

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Reporting 45

43(B)log

AUGUST 5, 2022

LFI allegedly used the “concepts, designs and ideas” from GDI’s samples to launch a new line of products with a larger cosmetics company, Morphe. Lanham Act false advertising: Were the statements “commercial advertising or promotion” even though not in a conventional ad? Insider Inc.

Advertising 59

Advertising Advertising False Advertising Contracts 59

43(B)log

JULY 15, 2024

“The test group was presented five pages from StockX’s website featuring the Authenticity Statements, and the control group was presented with similar webpages that featured versions of those statements that omitted references to ‘authentication’ or substituted them with references to ‘inspection.’”

False Advertising 69

False Advertising Branding Branding Brands 69

43(B)log

JUNE 15, 2022

Netaifm alleged that defendants engaged in anticompetitive market behavior when the Jain entities acquired majority shares of two local design firms, which connect manufacturers to growers, and alleged false advertising. Jain is Netafim’s largest competitor. Jain had approximately $25 million in Central Valley sales in 2016.

False Advertising 45

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Blogging 45

43(B)log

DECEMBER 1, 2022

OSD Audio then sued Outlaw under §512(f), and Outlaw counterclaimed for false advertising and unfair competition under the Lanham Act, copyright infringement, and trade libel. Lanham Act: The user manual did not constitute “commercial advertising or promotion.” For the copyright claim, Outlaw didn’t show irreparable harm.

Advertising 49

Advertising Advertising False Advertising Copyright 49

43(B)log

JULY 25, 2024

In fall 2023, Overjet launched its “Anatomical Structures Visualization Tool” for Overjet Caries Assist, which introduced the relevant coloring scheme and design. It also allegedly “selected the design and colors to help with brand identification; the purple, for example, complements Overjet’s purple brand color.” Overjet, Inc.

Copyright 59

Copyright False Advertising Advertising Advertising 59

43(B)log

OCTOBER 4, 2021

False advertising claims as to “Made in USA”: First, J-B Weld argued that Illinois Tool lacked standing because it didn’t advertise its own products as being “Made in USA.” What if J-B Weld falsely advertised that its bonding products cure cancer or stopped global warming? The evidence conflicts.”

False Advertising 69

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Trademark 69

43(B)log

DECEMBER 23, 2022

Although expressing some skepticism, the court found that they stated a valid false advertising claim. Factors supporting a commercial speech characterization include “[l] the speech is an advertisement, [2] the speech refers to a particular product, and [3] the speaker has an economic motivation.” Those were all present.

False Advertising 72

False Advertising Advertising Advertising Social Media 72

43(B)log

AUGUST 27, 2024

PNC sued for counterfeiting, infringement, and false advertising/unfair competition under federal and Pennsylvania law. A consumer complaint cited by PNC might be relevant to false advertising, but didn’t obviously show trademark confusion: Venmo says they have lost connection with my bank – sounds like Venmo’s problem.

Advertising 52

Advertising Advertising False Advertising Designs 52