{"id":2031,"date":"2023-06-16T12:09:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2023-06-16T12:09:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:09:16","slug":"jack-daniels-properties-inc-vs-vip-products-llc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/?p=2031","title":{"rendered":"Jack Daniel\u2019s Properties, Inc. vs. VIP Products LLC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By: John Murphy<\/p>\n<p>On June 8, 2023, the United States Supreme Court considered parody as a defense to trademark infringement and dilution, in <em>Jack Daniel\u2019s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC<\/em>, Case No. 22-148.<\/p>\n<p>VIP Products sold a chewable dog toy that closely resembled a bottle of Jack Daniel\u2019s whisky.\u00a0 The label text parodied several of Jack Daniel\u2019s marks \u2013 for example, it replaced JACK DANIEL\u2019S with BAD SPANIELS.<\/p>\n<p>Jack Daniel\u2019s sued VIP for trademark infringement and dilution.\u00a0 VIP argued that its dog toy was an expressive work protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution (which protects freedom of speech and artistic expression).<\/p>\n<p>The case made its way to the Supreme Court.\u00a0 In a rare unanimous decision, the Court held:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The First Amendment is not a defense to trademark infringement \u201cwhen the accused infringer has used a trademark to designate the source of its own goods \u2013 in other words, has used a trademark as a trademark.\u201d Despite its protestations, VIP was using BAD SPANIELS, and other matter on the label, to indicate the source of its product.\u00a0 Thus, its toy was not protected under the First Amendment.<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, \u201cbecause VIP used the challenged marks as source identifiers, it could not benefit from the fair-use exclusion for parody\u201d as a defense to Jack Daniel\u2019s trademark dilution claim.<\/li>\n<li>Although VIP\u2019s dog toy was not protected by the First Amendment, \u201ca trademark\u2019s expressive message \u2013 particularly a parodic one, as VIP asserts \u2013 may properly figure in assessing the likelihood of confusion.\u201d VIP was free to argue that consumers are not confused by its dog toy because it is obviously a parody, rather than a product produced by or with the permission of Jack Daniel\u2019s.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Plaintiffs in parody cases often rely on surveys that ask respondents whether the defendant needed the plaintiff\u2019s permission to sell the product.\u00a0 In a concurring opinion, Justice Sotomayor warned that \u201ccourts should treat the results of [such] surveys with particular caution,\u201d because an affirmative response may reflect \u201ca mistaken belief\u2026that all parodies require permission from the owner of the parodied mark.\u201d\u00a0 Justice Sotomayor went on to state:<\/p>\n<p><em>Allowing such survey results to drive the infringement analysis would risk silencing a great many parodies, even ones that by other metrics are unlikely to result in the confusion about sourcing that is the core concern of the Lanham Act\u2026Well-heeled brands with the resources to commission surveys would be handed an effective veto over mockery\u2026Courts should thus ensure surveys do not completely displace other likelihood-of-confusion factors, which may more accurately track the experiences of actual consumers in the marketplace.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower courts for further proceedings consistent with its decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: John Murphy On June 8, 2023, the United States [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-noticias"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2032,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions\/2032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgal.com.mx\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}