Over the past year, including in my blog post last month, we’ve traced the progression of the Coachella/Filmchella lawsuit, which was scheduled for trial earlier this month. Approximately a week before trial, the parties settled the case and the Court entered a stipulated order as a result. The order contains a permanent injunction prohibiting
Coachella/Filmchella Dispute Headed to Trial
The Coachella/Filmchella trademark infringement case, which we have previously covered here, here, and here, is headed to trial in California this October. Last week, the federal judge assigned to the case denied Coachella’s partial summary judgment motion and ruled that a jury, not the judge, must ultimately decide whether the Filmchella founder
Update: Brand Enforcement Challenges
The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, took effect May 25, 2018. As predicted, the GDPR has complicated access to WHOIS information (commonly used to look up the contact information for website domains for, among other things, stopping others from infringing IP rights) and given ICANN (the corporation that manages WHOIS data) a headache.
Send a C&D, or Just Sue?
When evaluating how to address what you believe constitutes infringement, false advertising, or unfair competition, the decision to send a cease and desist letter or to file a lawsuit becomes an important one. Is there a right approach in each instance? No. There are pros and cons to each and, in a typical lawyer answer,
The Looming (Brand Enforcement) Blackout
There are over 330 million domain names supporting over 1.8 billion websites having a unique hostname on the internet right now. But who owns each of these? There are many reasons one may want to identify the owner or operator of a particular domain or website. In addition to law enforcement and cyber security, owners
Social Media Influencers and Infringement Concerns
If anyone was still unsure, Kylie Jenner recently proved that a tweet or post from a social media influencer can have a profound impact. Accordingly, companies are increasingly collaborating with social media influencers to promote their brand. This partnership has become quite lucrative for both parties. For example, a recent Forbes article found that influencers
Growing Industry Lacks I.P. Protection
A trademark may give a business the right to stop others from using these marks to sell similar goods or services or using marks that may be confusingly similar. However, federal trademark protection is out of reach for hundreds of businesses across the country.
The recent announcement that the DOJ was rescinding the Cole Memo
Expanded Injunction Ruling in Coachella/Filmchella Case
Following up on my blog post last month related to the Coachella/Filmchella trademark infringement case pending in the Central District of California, the court held this week that the organizer of the Filmchella music festival cannot use the name Filmchilla now either. The court had previously issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the organizers
Coachella vs. Filmchella
The Coachella/Filmchella trademark infringement case continues to heat up. Last month, my colleague Megan Center wrote a blog post about the preliminary injunction granted by the Central District of California to the organizers of the Coachella music festival related to another party’s use of Filmchella to refer to a film festival. Interestingly, the plaintiff attempted
“I Can” and “I Will” File a Lawsuit
Earlier this week, Under Armour filed a declaratory judgment action in Maryland federal court against Battle Fashions Inc. and Kelsey Battle seeking an order that Under Armour is not infringing any of Battle Fashion’s trademark rights. In its complaint, Under Armour describes multiple communications the defendants sent to Under Armour demanding that it cease