Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme; TFL, July 12, 2023

 TFL; Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme

"Shein is facing a new lawsuit that accuses the Chinese retail titan of not only carrying out “large-scale and systematic intellectual property theft from U.S. designers large and small,” but of also engaging in infringement-related racketeering activities in the process. According to the complaint that they filed in a California federal court on Tuesday, independent designers Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez, and Jay Baron claim that Shein and various related entities, including Roadget Business and Zoetop Business, (collectively, “Shein”) are on the hook for copyright and trademark infringement in connection with their practice of “produc[ing], distribut[ing], and selling exact copies of their creative works,” which they allege is “part and parcel of Shein’s ‘design’ process and organizational DNA.”...

For each new product sold on Shein’s website, the plaintiffs claim that the initial production run is as low as 100-200 units per SKU, compared to “the thousands of pieces typically produced by traditional peer retailers.” The purpose of this is that it enables Shein to “wait to see if anybody complains that the design was stolen,” and if they do, it can swiftly settle with the company."

From Taco Tuesday to Sunday Brunch, restaurants fight over trademarks; National Post, February 19, 2018

Joseph Brean, National Post; From Taco Tuesday to Sunday Brunch, restaurants fight over trademarks

"News that a large restaurant franchise conglomerate has threatened a small Tex-Mex cantina in Calgary with a lawsuit for illegally using the trademark “Taco Tuesday” has shone a rare light into the murky world of intellectual property law for foodies.

It is a brutal world, in which even the most basic culinary gimmick has probably already been claimed and protected by unforgiving law, from the “Ham N’ Egger” to “Eggs Benny.”"

It's not what you say, it's how quickly you trademark it; Reuters, May 11, 2017

Barbara Goldberg, Reuters; 

It's not what you say, it's how quickly you trademark it

"From President Donald Trump's dash to own "Keep America Great" for his 2020 re-election campaign even before he took office to a rush by a foundation for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to claim "Let's Roll" just days after New York's Twin Towers were reduced to rubble, Americans [sic] rushing to trademark catchy phrases.

There were 391,837 trademark applications filed last year, with the number growing an average of 5 percent annually, government reports show. The USPTO does not break out how many of those applications were for phrases.

The upsurge is the result of headline-grabbing cases like socialite Paris Hilton's winning settlement of a lawsuit over her trademarked catch-phrase "That's Hot" from her former television reality show, said trademark attorney Howard Hogan of Washington."

Ohio State University seeks to trademark The Oval; Columbus Dispatch, March 7, 2017

Mary Mogan Edwards, Columbus Dispatch; 

Ohio State University seeks to trademark The Oval

"Forget about any plans you might have to appeal to OSU-lovers everywhere with a line of T-shirts evoking that signature grassy expanse that's something between a circle and a rectangle: Ohio State University is claiming "The Oval" — the place name and the image, not the geometrical shape — as its own.

Seeking trademark protection is the ultimate step in brand defense, said Rick Van Brimmer, OSU's assistant vice president for trademark-licensing services. The university is moving The Oval up to that category (where Brutus Buckeye, Woody Hayes, The Shoe, Urban Meyer and the like dwell) because the university is using it these days as a neck label on apparel and other items."