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Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property

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IP at the Supreme Court Series: Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC

March 22 | 5:00 - 6:30pm EDT | Hybrid | NT01 | Reception to Follow
Link to Event Recording

Moderated by Professor Christine Farley

American University Washington College of Law regularly invites counsel of record and counsel for selected amici to offer post-argument reflections in intellectual property (and related) cases heard by the Supreme Court. These events are held on the afternoon of oral argument before the Court. 

ISSUE

Issues: (1) Whether humorous use of another’s trademark as one’s own on a commercial product is subject to the Lanham Act’s traditional likelihood-of-confusion analysis, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1), or instead receives heightened First Amendment protection from trademark-infringement claims; and (2) whether humorous use of another’s mark as one’s own on a commercial product is “noncommercial” and thus bars as a matter of law a claim of dilution by tarnishment under the Trademark Dilution Revision Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)(3)(C).

PANELISTS 

Bennett Evan Cooper
Dickinson Wright PLLC
Counsel For Respondent

Prof. Rebeccah Tushnet
Harvard Law School
Amicus Brief for Law Professors in Support of Respondent

Paul Levy
Public Citizen
Amicus brief for Dan McCall, Sky Shatz, & Don Stewart  in support of Respondent

Edward T. Colbert
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Amicus brief for Constellation Brands, Inc. in support of Petitioner

Megan K. Bannigan
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Amicus Brief for IP Law Professors in Support of Neither Party

Carrie A. Hefte
Wells Fargo & Company (retired)
Amicus brief for INTA in support of neither party

ALL BRIEFS AVAILABLE ON SCOTUSblog:  Jack Daniel's Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC

Link to Oral Argument Transcript
Link to Oral Argument Audio Recording

UPDATE:

Decision

Accommodation Request
If you would like to request a disability-related accommodation or accessibility information, please contact PIJIP at pijip@wcl.american.edu.   Requests should be made two weeks prior to event date.