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Brief Of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Law Professors In Support Of Appellees, Mark Mckenna Nov 2015

Brief Of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Law Professors In Support Of Appellees, Mark Mckenna

Court Briefs

The District Court correctly determined that Phoenix failed to state a trademark claim because Basket Case’s activities cannot have caused any relevant confusion.1 Phoenix’s fundamental complaint is about unauthorized use of its intangible content—karaoke tracks. Under Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 539 U.S. 23 (2003), however, only confusion regarding the source of physical goods is actionable under the Lanham Act; confusion regarding the source of the karaoke tracks or their authorization is not actionable. Phoenix cannot avoid Dastar just because Basket Case creates digital copies of those tracks, as Basket Case does not sell digital files or …


The Hydrox Resurrection, Mark Mckenna Sep 2015

The Hydrox Resurrection, Mark Mckenna

NDLS in the News

KESTENBAUM: I wasn't going to let that stop me. So I called up a trademark expert, Mark McKenna at Notre Dame, and I asked him, is this right? Can someone just waltz in and grab a hundred­year­old trademark, suddenly own this whole history? It seemed a little weird 'cause a trademark is like a kind of property. And if you think of this like land...

SMITH: Like, hey, I notice you haven't mowed your lawn for a while, so I'm just going to take a little part of your property.

KESTENBAUM: Yeah, it seems crazy, right? McKenna said, I'm thinking …


Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors In Support Of Defendant-Appellee National Football League, Rebecca Tushnet, Mark Mckenna Mar 2015

Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors In Support Of Defendant-Appellee National Football League, Rebecca Tushnet, Mark Mckenna

Court Briefs

No. 14-3428
John Frederick Dryer v. National Football League

On Appeal from the United States Distric Court for the District of Minnesota, Civ. No. 09-02182 (PAM/FLN), Hon. Paul A. Magnuson

From the Summary of Argument

Based on the undisputed facts, the NFL’s films in this case are noncommercial speech; their profit-seeking and brand-building nature are standard features of noncommercial speech. Truthful, nondefamatory noncommercial speech deserves full First Amendment protection, and there is no justification for allowing Appellants to control speech about them in this case.

Separately, Appellants’ right of publicity claims are preempted by the Copyright Act, which allows owners …