Trademark Law Cases
GATEWAY INC. v. COMPANION PRODS., No. 03-3410 (8th Cir. September 13, 2004)
Defendant's product infringed plaintiff-Gateway's black and white cow and spots trademark where the spots have acquired distinctiveness through secondary meaning, is not functional, and is entitled to protection. [PDF]
Putting a Legal Lock on 'Kryptonite': A New York federal judge has ruled that DC Comics, owner of the Superman franchise, owns a valid trademark in "kryptonite" that can be protected from dilution and infringement by a bicycle lock company that adopted the name. Judge Richard Owen issued several summary judgment rulings favorable to DC Comics, but he refused to dismiss a claim that DC breached a contract on limited trademark use, leaving most of the issue for trial.
AUTOZONE, INC. v. TANDY COPR. (6th Cir. 2004)
Plaintiffs' trademark infringement claim was rejected because they did not presented enough evidence such that a reasonable jury could conclude that there existed a likelihood of confusion between POWERZONE and AUTOZONE or that Defendants' use of POWERZONE diluted the AUTOZONE mark.
Defendant's product infringed plaintiff-Gateway's black and white cow and spots trademark where the spots have acquired distinctiveness through secondary meaning, is not functional, and is entitled to protection. [PDF]
Putting a Legal Lock on 'Kryptonite': A New York federal judge has ruled that DC Comics, owner of the Superman franchise, owns a valid trademark in "kryptonite" that can be protected from dilution and infringement by a bicycle lock company that adopted the name. Judge Richard Owen issued several summary judgment rulings favorable to DC Comics, but he refused to dismiss a claim that DC breached a contract on limited trademark use, leaving most of the issue for trial.
AUTOZONE, INC. v. TANDY COPR. (6th Cir. 2004)
Plaintiffs' trademark infringement claim was rejected because they did not presented enough evidence such that a reasonable jury could conclude that there existed a likelihood of confusion between POWERZONE and AUTOZONE or that Defendants' use of POWERZONE diluted the AUTOZONE mark.
