Beebe - Trademark Law: an Open-Source Casebook
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Beebe - Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook III. Defenses to Trademark Infringement and Related Limitations on Trademark Rights ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 A. Descriptive Fair Use ............................................................................................................... 3 1. Descriptive Fair Use and Consumer Confusion ................................................ 3 KP Permanent Make-Up, Inc. v. Lasting Impression I, Inc. .................... 4 2. The Three-Step Test for Descriptive Fair Use ................................................ 10 Dessert Beauty, Inc. v. Fox ................................................................................. 10 Sorensen v. WD-40 Company ........................................................................... 21 3. Further Examples of Descriptive Fair Use Analyses .................................... 27 International Stamp Art v. U.S. Postal Service ......................................... 27 Bell v. Harley Davidson Motor Co. .................................................................. 29 Fortune Dynamic, Inc. v. Victoria’s Secret.................................................. 30 B. Nominative Fair Use ........................................................................................................... 32 1. The Three-Step Test for Nominative Fair Use ................................................ 32 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. v. Tabari ................................................... 34 Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay Inc. .............................................................................. 46 2. Further Examples of Nominative Fair Use Analyses ................................... 49 Liquid Glass Enterprises, Inc. v. Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG .................. 51 Toho Co., Ltd. v. William Morrow & Co., Inc. ............................................. 51 C. Expressive Uses of Trademarks ..................................................................................... 54 1. Expressive Uses and the Tests for Confusion and Dilution ...................... 56 Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v. Haute Diggity Dog, LLC ........................ 56 2. The Rogers v. Grimaldi Test for Unauthorized “Artistic” Uses ................. 73 E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, Inc. .................... 74 Brown v. Electronic Arts ..................................................................................... 81 3. Further Examples of Expressive Use Analyses .............................................. 94 Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc. ..................................................................... 95 Mattel, Inc. v. Walking Mountain Productions ........................................ 98 Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. v. Hyundai Motor Am. ............................. 104 MPS Entm't, LLC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc........................... 106 The Louis Vuitton / Penn Law School Controversy.............................. 108 D. Trademark Abandonment ............................................................................................. 114 1. Abandonment Through Cessation of Use ...................................................... 114 ITC Ltd. v. Punchgini, Inc. ................................................................................. 115 Crash Dummy Movie, LLC v. Mattel, Inc. ................................................... 125 2. Abandonment Through Failure to Control Use .......................................... 130 a. Abandonment Through Naked Licensing ............................................ 130 FreecycleSunnyvale v. Freecycle Network ............................................... 130 Part III 1 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. V2.0/2015-07-20 Beebe - Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook b. Assignment in Gross ..................................................................................... 141 Sugar Busters LLC v Brennan ........................................................................ 142 E. The First Sale Doctrine ................................................................................................... 146 Champion Spark Plug Co. v. Sanders .......................................................... 147 Nitro Leisure Products, L.L.C. v. Acushnet Co. ........................................ 151 Part III 2 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. V2.0/2015-07-20 Beebe - Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook III. Defenses to Trademark Infringement and Related Limitations on Trademark Rights A. Descriptive Fair Use In a typical descriptive fair use situation, the plaintiff uses a term as a trademark (e.g., SWEETARTS for candy) that the defendant also uses merely to describe its own goods (e.g., “sweet-tart” to describe the taste of OCEAN SPRAY cranberry juice). See Sunmark, Inc. v. Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., 64 F.3d 1055 (7th Cir. 1995) (finding defendant’s descriptive, non-trademark use of the term “sweet-tart” to be a descriptive fair use). The affirmative defense of descriptive fair use (sometimes called “classic” fair use) is based on Lanham Act § § 33(b)(4), 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b)(4), which establishes a defense to trademark infringement on the ground: (4) That the use of the name, term, or device charged to be an infringement is a use, otherwise than as a mark, of the party’s individual name in his own business, or of the individual name of anyone in privity with such party, or of a term or device which is descriptive of and used fairly and in good faith only to describe the goods or services of such party, or their geographic origin; We begin our review of descriptive fair use in Part III.A.1 with KP Permanent Make-Up, Inc. v. Lasting Impression I, Inc., 543 U.S. 111 (2004). Note importantly that KP Permanent does not apparently set forth any specific test that the circuits should apply to adjudicate a descriptive fair use claim. The opinion is included here primarily because of the importance of the Court’s clear holding that in determining descriptive fair use, a court may find the defendant’s conduct to be a descriptive fair use even if that conduct causes some degree of consumer confusion as to source. We then turn In Part III.A.2 to the basic three-step test that most courts apply to evaluate a claim of descriptive fair use. 1. Descriptive Fair Use and Consumer Confusion In KP Permanent, the declaratory plaintiff used the term “microcolor” in advertisements for its “permanent makeup” (shown below on the left). The defendant had previously registered the trademark MICRO COLORS at the PTO (on the right). In the excerpt that follows, the Supreme Court finally overruled the Ninth Part III 3 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. V2.0/2015-07-20 Beebe - Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook Circuit’s bizarre doctrine that any likelihood of consumer confusion defeats a defense of descriptive fair use. KP Permanent Make-Up, Inc. v. Lasting Impression I, Inc. 543 U.S. 111 (2004) SOUTER, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and STEVENS, O’CONNOR, KENNEDY, THOMAS, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, in which SCALIA, J., joined as to all but footnotes 4 and 5 [footnotes 1 and 2 in this excerpt], and in which BREYER, J., joined as to all but footnote 6 [footnote 3 in this excerpt]. … [1] On appeal, 328 F.3d 1061 (2003), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit thought it was error for the District Court to have addressed the fair use defense without delving into the matter of possible confusion on the part of consumers Part III 4 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. V2.0/2015-07-20 Beebe - Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook about the origin of KP’s goods. The reviewing court took the view that no use could be recognized as fair where any consumer confusion was probable, and although the court did not pointedly address the burden of proof, it appears to have placed it on KP to show absence of consumer confusion. Id., at 1072 (“Therefore, KP can only benefit from the fair use defense if there is no likelihood of confusion between KP’s use of the term ‘micro color’ and Lasting’s mark”). Since it found there were disputed material facts relevant under the Circuit’s eight-factor test for assessing the likelihood of confusion, it reversed the summary judgment and remanded the case. [2] We granted KP’s petition for certiorari, 540 U.S. 1099 (2004), to address a disagreement among the Courts of Appeals on the significance of likely confusion for a fair use defense to a trademark infringement claim, and the obligation of a party defending on that ground to show that its use is unlikely to cause consumer confusion. Compare 328 F.3d, at 1072 (likelihood of confusion bars the fair use defense); PACCAR Inc. v. TeleScan Technologies, L.L.C., 319 F.3d 243,