lanham-act

49 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-959 CareDx, Inc. v. Natera, Inc. Third Circuit 2026-02-11 Pending Response Waived advertising-campaign circuit-split consumer-deception false-advertising jury-inference lanham-act Whether a jury hearing a false advertising case under the Lanham Act should be barred from inferring consumer deception and reliance upon finding that…
25-753 Zioness Movement, Inc. v. The Lawfare Project, Inc. Second Circuit 2025-12-29 Pending consumer-confusion intellectual-property lanham-act legal-standing source-identification trademark-ownership Whether a court may find joint ownership of a trademark between competing entities without violating the Lanham Act's requirement of a single source o…
25-736 World Champ Tech, LLC v. Peloton Interactive, Inc. Ninth Circuit 2025-12-22 Pending Response Waived circuit-split factor-test lanham-act likely-confusion summary-judgment trademark-infringement Whether lower courts must avoid a factor-by-factor analysis that balances competing evidence and the weight to be given likely confusion factors in La…
25A708 CareDx, Inc. v. Natera, Inc. Third Circuit 2025-12-17 Application circuit-split consumer-deception false-advertising lanham-act trademark-law willful-misrepresentation Whether a federal appellate court can reject a presumption of consumer deception in a Lanham Act false advertising case when a campaign is demonstrabl…
25-215 Vetements Group AG v. Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office Federal Circuit 2025-08-21 Denied consumer-perception descriptiveness foreign-equivalents genericness lanham-act trademark-law Whether protection of a non-English mark is controlled by consumer perception of the mark taken at face value or controlled by its English translation
25A157 Rebecca Curtin v. United Trademark Holdings, Inc. Federal Circuit 2025-08-06 Presumed Complete administrative-proceeding lanham-act proximate-causation statutory-standing trademark-opposition zone-of-interests Whether the Lanham Act's trademark opposition provision requires a plaintiff to demonstrate proximate causation and zone of interests standing under t…
25-144 Thomas D. Foster, APC v. Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office Federal Circuit 2025-08-06 Denied Response Waived administrative-procedure constitutional-vagueness lanham-act statutory-interpretation trademark-application trademark-law Whether the Federal Circuit improperly considered post-filing government developments to refuse a trademark application and whether Section 2(a)'s pro…
25-75 Crocs, Inc. v. Double Diamond Distribution, Ltd., et al. Federal Circuit 2025-07-22 Denied Amici (1) commercial-advertising intangible-properties lanham-act misrepresentation patent-status trademark-law Whether the Lanham Act's prohibition on misrepresentations as to 'nature, characteristics, [or] qualities' extends to misrepresentations about the pro…
25-18 Cirrus Design Corporation v. Great Western Air, LLC, dba Cirrus Aviation Services, LLC Ninth Circuit 2025-07-07 Denied Amici (1)Response Waived circuit-split jury-trial lanham-act monetary-relief seventh-amendment trademark-infringement Whether the Seventh Amendment jury-trial right applies in actions seeking monetary relief in the form of the infringer's profits
24-1011 Jem Accessories, Inc., dba Xtreme Cables, a New Jersey Corporation v. Harman International Industries, Inc., a Delaware Corporation Ninth Circuit 2025-03-21 Denied circuit-split intellectual-property laches lanham-act statute-of-limitations trademark-law Whether courts may borrow state statutes of limitations to create presumptions of laches in federal trademark actions under the Lanham Act; Whether co…
24-953 Lerner and Rowe PC, an Arizona Corporation v. Brown Engstrand & Shely LLC, dba Accident Law Group, an Arizona Corporation, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-03-05 Denied circuit-split consumer-confusion intellectual-property lanham-act likelihood-of-confusion trademark-infringement Whether the Ninth Circuit's analysis of likelihood of consumer confusion factors in trademark infringement actions conflicts with other Circuit Courts…
24A654 Carl Ellen Puckett, Jr., et ux. v. Ain Jeem, Inc. Eleventh Circuit 2025-01-02 Presumed Complete due-process first-amendment jurisdiction lanham-act pro-se trademark-seizure Whether a district court can issue an ex parte trademark seizure order without proper notice and hearing under 15 U.S.C. § 1116 when jurisdiction is d…
24-637 T-Mobile US, Inc., fka T-Mobile USA, Inc., et al. v. Simply Wireless Inc. Fourth Circuit 2024-12-11 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) common-law-mark continuous-use lanham-act section-1127 trademark-infringement trademark-rights Whether the 'use' that creates a common law trademark right under Section 45 of the Lanham Act must be continuous to maintain trademark rights
23-1252 Bill Gaede, et ux. v. Michael Delay, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-05-30 Denied copyright-act copyright-infringement false-designation false-designation-of-origin intellectual-property lanham-act origin-clause scientific-priority usurpation Whether usurpation of scientific priority constitutes a violation under either the 'false designation of origin' clause of the Lanham Act or the copyr…
23-900 Dewberry Group, Inc., fka Dewberry Capital Corporation v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. Fourth Circuit 2024-02-21 Judgment Issued Amici (6)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3) circuit-conflict civil-procedure corporate-form corporate-separateness lanham-act profits-disgorgement standing statutory-interpretation trademark-law Whether an award of the 'defendant's profits' under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), can include an order for the defendant to disgorge the distin…
23-681 Diamond J. Wholesale, LLC, dba Gabsons Novelties v. Top Tobacco, L.P., et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-12-22 Denied Response Waived civil-procedure corporate-liability individual-liability knowing-violation lanham-act mark-misuse statutory-interpretation threshold-of-significance trademark-infringement When does individual liability attach for corporate employees under the Lanham Act?
23A517 Dewberry Group, Inc., f/k/a Dewberry Capital Corporation, a Georgia Corporation v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., a New York Corporation Fourth Circuit 2023-12-07 Presumed Complete corporate-separateness equity-principles lanham-act profit-disgorgement trademark-infringement trademark-law Whether a court may order a defendant to disgorge profits from non-party affiliated entities in a Lanham Act trademark infringement case without pierc…
23-228 Paule McKenna v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., et al. California 2023-09-12 Denied Response Waived advertising brand-logos celebrity-persona celebrity-rights commercial-speech commercial-use lanham-act motion-picture trademark-infringement Does the Lanham Act prohibit the unauthorized use of a celebrity's persona in advertising third party brands with logos in a commercial motion picture…
23-194 Trendily Furniture, LLC, et al. v. Jason Scott Collection, Inc. Ninth Circuit 2023-08-31 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) consumer-confusion intentional-copying lanham-act pass-off product-design secondary-meaning trade-dress Whether, and to what extent, a competitor's intentional copying alone—without any intent to confuse consumers or pass off its products as the plaintif…
23A46 Paule McKenna v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., et al. California 2023-07-18 Presumed Complete anti-SLAPP commercial-speech first-amendment lanham-act right-of-publicity trademark-infringement Whether the First Amendment protects the use of a person's likeness in a commercial film from liability under the Lanham Act and state right of public…
22-1249 Foremost Title & Escrow Services, LLC v. FCOA, LLC Eleventh Circuit 2023-06-29 Denied burden-of-proof circuit-split consumer-confusion incontestable incontestable-mark lanham-act presumption trademark trademark-law Whether the Eleventh Circuit is correct to relieve an incontestable trademark-holder of its burden to prove that its mark is strong and likely to be c…
22-316 Lodestar Anstalt v. Bacardi & Company Limited, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-10-04 Denied Response Waived consumer-confusion lanham-act likelihood-of-confusion section-45 trademark-enforcement trademark-infringement unfair-competition use-in-commerce Whether a plaintiff in a trademark enforcement action must prove that each use of its mark meets Section 45 of the Lanham Act's 'use in commerce' defi…
22-198 Ayse Sen v. Amazon.com, Inc. Ninth Circuit 2022-09-02 Denied Response Waived civil-procedure commercial-exploitation due-process exclusion-right exclusive-use lanham-act property-rights trademark-rights Does Amazon.com, Inc. or any other third parties have the right to commercially exploit and appropriate goodwill of Ayse Sen's Baiden Trademark withou…
22-148 Jack Daniel's Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC Ninth Circuit 2022-08-17 Judgment Issued Amici (30) brand-recognition commercial-speech commercial-use dilution-by-tarnishment first-amendment lanham-act noncommercial-use trademark-infringement Whether humorous use of another's trademark as one's own on a commercial product is subject to the Lanham Act's traditional analysis, or instead recei…
21-1264 Larry Klayman v. Judicial Watch, Inc., et al. District of Columbia 2022-03-18 Denied Response Waived circuit-split consumer-confusion hearsay-evidence lanham-act likelihood-of-confusion non-disparagement precedent trademark-infringement trademark-law Did the US. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit err by failing to apply the 'appreciable number of consumers' standard to the 'likel…
21-1043 Abitron Austria GmbH, et al. v. Hetronic International, Inc. Tenth Circuit 2022-01-26 Judgment Issued CVSGAmici (14)Relisted (3) civil-procedure extraterritorial-application extraterritoriality foreign-sales lanham-act territorial-rights trademark trademark-infringement u.s.-commerce us-commerce Whether the court of appeals erred in applying the Lanham Act extraterritorially to petitioners' foreign sales, including purely foreign sales that ne…
21-417 Sulzer Mixpac AG v. A&N Trading Company, et al. Second Circuit 2021-09-16 Denied Amici (3)Response RequestedRelisted (2) circuit-split functionality intellectual-property lanham-act legal-interpretation product-features product-functionality trademark-protection utility Whether any degree of utility categorically renders a product feature functional and thus ineligible for federal trademark protection under the Lanham…
21-415 Carmen Electra, et al. v. 59 Murray Enterprises, Inc., dba New York Dolls Gentlemen's Club, et al. Second Circuit 2021-09-15 Denied celebrity commercial-identity commercial-interest false-advertising identity-misuse image-rights lanham-act legal-standing public-prominence trademark-misuse Must an individual prove they have a commercial interest in their identity, or must a person prove they are recognizable, publicly prominent, or a cel…
21-247 Coalition for Better Government, et al. v. Alliance for Good Government Fifth Circuit 2021-08-20 Denied Response Waived attorney-fees chilling-effect commercial-speech fee-shifting first-amendment lanham-act non-commercial-speech political-speech Should the Lanham Act be extended to non-commercial political speech?
21-195 Belmora LLC, et al. v. Bayer Consumer Care AG, et al. Fourth Circuit 2021-08-11 Denied Amici (1) false-advertising false-association lanham-act statute-of-limitations trademark-registration trademark-territoriality Whether the Lanham Act's zone of interests extends to the foreign owner of a foreign trademark that has not registered or used the mark in the United …
20-1817 Ezaki Glico Kabushiki Kaisha, et al. v. Lotte International America Corp., et al. Third Circuit 2021-06-29 Denied Amici (4)Relisted (3) alternative-designs circuit-split design-protection functionality lanham-act product-configuration summary-judgment trade-dress utility-patent Whether trade dress is 'functional' if it is 'essential to the use or purpose of the article' or 'affects the cost or quality of the article,' as this…
20-1637 Janice Dickinson v. Ryan Seacrest Productions, Inc., et al. Ninth Circuit 2021-05-25 Denied Response Waived actual-malice defamation first-amendment lanham-act new-york-times-v-sullivan public-figure rogers-test rogers-v-grimaldi Whether a defendant who willfully creates a false narrative about a public figure that is marketed to the public as a true story, for the intentional …
20-1588 Michael Konowicz, aka Michael Phillips, et al. v. Jonathan P. Carr, et al. Third Circuit 2021-05-17 Denied actual-malice commercial-speech constitutional-interpretation defamation first-amendment fourteenth-amendment free-speech lanham-act Whether the Court should revisit the 'actual malice' doctrine of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
20-1552 Naked TM, LLC v. Australian Therapeutic Supplies Pty. Ltd. Federal Circuit 2021-05-07 Denied circuit-split federal-circuit judicial-precedent lanham-act lexmark standing statutory-cause-of-action statutory-interpretation trademark trademark-registration trademark-standing Whether respondent has standing to cancel petitioner's trademark registration under 15 U.S.C. § 1064 despite prior agreement to allow registration
20-1429 Arcona, Inc. v. Farmacy Beauty, LLC, et al. Ninth Circuit 2021-04-13 Denied circuit-split lanham-act likelihood-of-confusion registered-mark statutory-interpretation trademark-counterfeiting trademark-registration Whether trademark counterfeiting requires a likelihood of confusion
20-1309 Corcamore, LLC v. SFM, LLC Federal Circuit 2021-03-19 Denied administrative-law civil-procedure due-process lanham-act lexmark-test standing statutory-interpretation trademark-law trademark-trial-and-appeal-board Whether the Lexmark test is the sole determinant of the TTAB's statutory power to adjudicate a § 1064 trademark cancellation, or if the Federal Circui…
20-421 Progressive Lawn Managers, Inc. v. Lawn Managers, Inc. Eighth Circuit 2020-10-01 Denied Response Waived divorce-orders lanham-act mark-abandonment naked-licensing parallel-state-court-proceedings state-court-proceedings trademark-infringement unclean-hands Whether a federal court may disregard state-court constructions of divorce orders in a trademark infringement case
20-365 Jack Daniel's Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC Ninth Circuit 2020-09-18 Denied Amici (7) commercial-speech dilution-by-tarnishment first-amendment humor-defense lanham-act parody trademark-dilution trademark-infringement Whether a commercial product using humor is subject to the same analysis under the Lanham Act or must receive heightened First Amendment protection
20-220 VBS Distribution, Inc., et al. v. Nutrivita Laboratories, Inc., et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-08-25 Denied Amici (4)Response Waived actual-injury article-three circuit-split civil-rights due-process false-advertising lanham-act standing uniform-application Whether a plaintiff in a false-advertising case must demonstrate 'actual injury' to state a claim under the Lanham Act
19-1232 Todd C. Bank v. Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik, Inc. Federal Circuit 2020-04-20 Denied civil-procedure civil-rights disparagement first-amendment lanham-act matal-v-tam standing trademark trademark-law trademark-registration Whether disparagement can be the basis of standing to challenge a trademark under the Lanham Act after Matal v. Tam
19-310 Kroma Makeup EU, LLC v. Kimberly Kardashian, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2019-09-06 Denied Response Waived circuit-split false-association lanham-act lexmark-international lexmark-test reasonable-interest rights-in-the-name standing standing-doctrine trademark-infringement Whether the proper analytical framework for determining standing to pursue trademark infringement claims under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act
19-152 Amarin Pharma, Inc., et al. v. International Trade Commission, et al. Federal Circuit 2019-08-01 Denied false-advertising federal-circuit food-drug-cosmetic-act international-trade-commission lanham-act pom-wonderful-v-coca-cola tariff-act tariff-act-1930 trade-practices unfair-competition unfair-trade-practices When a manufacturer files a Lanham Act claim under the Tariff Act for competitive injuries caused by unfair trade practices, is the claim barred as a …
19-53 Branded LLC v. Andrei Iancu, Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office Federal Circuit 2019-07-09 Denied Response Waived descriptive-marks federal-circuit generic-marks lanham-act principal-register trademark-descriptive trademark-descriptiveness trademark-distinctiveness trademark-generic trademark-genericness trademark-infringement trademark-law trademark-protection trademark-registration trademark-trial-and-appeal-board Whether the Federal Circuit test impermissibly categorizes 'descriptive' marks as unprotectable 'generic' marks, on the basis of the mark describing t…
19-48 B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc. Eighth Circuit 2019-07-08 Denied bose disgorgement federal-circuit fraud fraud-standard lanham-act lanham-act-fraud patent rule-59-motion standard-of-review therasense trademark trademark-law uspto willfulness Whether the established precedent by the Federal Circuit for the determination of fraud on the USPTO should be adopted as the proper standard for all …
19-46 United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al. v. Booking.com B.V. Fourth Circuit 2019-07-08 Judgment Issued Amici (15)Relisted (2) civil-procedure generic-term generic-terms intellectual-property lanham-act online-business top-level-domain trademark trademark-law trademark-protection trademark-registration uspto Whether the addition by an online business of a generic top-level domain (.com) to an otherwise generic term can create a protectable trademark"
18-1233 Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Group, Inc., fka Fossil, Inc., et al. Federal Circuit 2019-03-22 Judgment Issued Amici (6)Relisted (2) circuit-split civil-procedure intellectual-property lanham-act profits profits-award remedies statutory-interpretation trademark-infringement willful-infringement willfulness Whether willful infringement is a prerequisite for an award of an infringer's profits for a violation of the Lanham Act
18-615 Bruce Munro, et al. v. Lucy Activewear Inc., et al. Eighth Circuit 2018-11-13 Denied circuit-split civil-procedure copyright copyright-law intellectual-property lanham-act physical-products preemption product-design standing trade-dress Does copyright preclude Lanham Act product design-trade-dress claims for physical products, and if so, under what circumstance(s)?
18-302 Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, Patent and Trademark Office v. Erik Brunetti Federal Circuit 2018-09-07 Judgment Issued Amici (11) commercial-speech first-amendment free-speech government-speech immoral immoral-marks lanham-act scandalous scandalous-marks trademark trademark-registration Whether Section 1052(a)'s prohibition on the federal registration of immoral' or 'scandalous' marks is facially invalid under the Free Speech Clause o…
18-47 Thomas McClary, et al. v. Commodores Entertainment Corp. Eleventh Circuit 2018-07-09 Denied extraterritorial-conduct extraterritorial-jurisdiction international-commerce jurisdiction lanham-act steele-v-bulova substantial-effect trademark-enforcement trademark-standing us-commerce What defines the 'substantial effect on United States commerce' that grants U.S. court's jurisdiction to expand the Lanham Act to extraterritorial con…