Disputes over restaurant trademarks are not exactly rare. However, we couldn’t help noticing that on September 28, 2018, injunctions issued hours apart in two restaurant name disputes involving high profile New York marks.
City of New York v. Tavern on the Green
The iconic Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park is owned by the City of New York, but has been operated by concessionaires since it opened in 1934.… More
For some of us who “summered” on the sweltering streets of New York City as children, the sound of the Mister Softee jingle triggers a Pavlovian response for that sweet, soft-serve ice cream. It was the perfect antidote for those hot, humid summer days. Reviewing Mister Softee, Inc. v. Tsirkos, No. 14 CV 1975 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 23, 2015),… More
In its recent decision in Arborjet, Inc. v. Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements, Inc., a case involving claims for breach of contract and trademark infringement, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction based upon the contract claims, but vacated the portion of the order requiring trademark attribution. In an opinion authored by retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter,… More
On July 24, 2014, the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, through its Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, held hearings on the subject of copyright remedies. Most of the discussion focused on the efficacy of statutory damages, which provide for awards between $750 and $30,000 per infringed work (with adjustments up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement).… More
Last week, Judge William Quarles of the District of Maryland issued an injunction preventing Maryland Republican State Senator Steve Hershey from using his own campaign literature. The case was brought by the Hershey Chocolate Company, which alleged that the Senator’s campaign poster and other materials infringed the famous confectioner’s trade dress. The lawsuit must have come as no surprise to Senator Hershey because, prior to this,… More
In its recent decision in Cigar King v. Corporacion Habanos, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the cancellation of Cigar King’s trademarks after it failed to comply with discovery orders. This was only the latest in a long line of trademark disputes between cigar brands, and is by no means the first example of a stogie manufacturer that had a complicated relationship with a court order.… More
In honor of African American Music Appreciation Month, sometimes known as Black Music Month, we recall the first judicial decisions in which jazz music was the subject of a legal dispute. Although jazz originated in the late nineteenth century in the Southern United States, the word “jazz” appears to have been applied to music for the first time between 1912 and 1915. Before the decade was out,… More
As most readers know, the Supreme Court held in the 2006 eBay decision that injunctions were no longer to be the norm in patent cases, and irreparable harm was not to be presumed. Instead, injunctions are within the equitable discretion of the district court, and are to be granted only if the plaintiff has shown entitlement under the traditional multi-factor test.
It’s been clear for some time that the same principles now apply in copyright and trademark cases as well.… More
It is common for contracts that grant intellectual property licenses or that include confidentiality obligations to include a provision in which the licensee or the user of confidential information acknowledges that breach of its confidentiality or license obligations will cause irreparable harm and that the other party will be entitled to injunctive relief to enforce any breach or threatened breach of the provision. Many an attorney has spent time negotiating the finer points of such acknowledgment provisions.… More