Breaking News: Supreme Court Denies Petition for Certiorari in RAPUNZEL Consumer Standing Case.

On my reading list: "Trademark's Parody Problem" by @christinefarley.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

If you are attending INTA this year, please join us for our Professor’s Panel discussion about INTA’s recent proposal to increase protection for well known marks: www.inta.org/wp-content/u... Info about our panel is here: www.inta.org/meetings/202.... I look forward to seeing everyone at INTA!

If you live in the United Kingdom or will be in London for the INTA annual meeting, join us for my May 7 book talk at University College London. I’m delighted UCL invited me to speak and look forward to introducing my friends from the US to my friends from the UK! www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

So I was delighted to discover that the SDNY court in the Viacom v Zeus case cited my “Free Speech Challenges to Trademark Law after Matal v Tam” paper in footnote 3! law.justia.com/cases/federa...

"Ohio man becomes first person convicted under federal law criminalizing intimate deepfakes, DOJ says - The Take It Down Act makes it a federal crime to publish nonconsensual deepfakes." www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Congratulations to USD law professor Linda Lane and the attorneys who teach in USD’s Experiential Advocacy Practicum for receiving an A+ grade and top 10 ranking from the National Jurist in its 2026 ranking of best law schools for practical training! nationaljurist.com/northeastern...

Kudos and *thanks* to @edleeprof.edu and his team @SantaClaraLaw.edu on their new searchable gen AI case tracker. With 100 domestic, and many more international, cases pending it'll be a great tool for gen AI case nerds (and real people) everywhere: chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/aicopyright...

Amazon's Bot Ban Aims To Stifle AI Rivals, 9th Circ. Told www.law360.com/articles/246...

Lego Gets Win On Copyright, TM Claims In Suit Against Rival Zuru www.law360.com/articles/246...

Netflix, Warner Bros. Get Pepperdine's 'Waves' TM Suit Tossed www.law360.com/articles/246...

Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy was one of the few skeptics at the Runway AI Summit, where AI was compared to fire and the printing press just a week after Sora’s death.

Highly recommend this article by Annelise Levy “Taylor Swift’s IP Savvy Becomes a Liability in ‘Showgirl’ Suit”. She correctly explains that the speech-protective Rogers test, … news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/taylo...

Looks like Deckers is trying to register a particular shade of blue for use in connection with footwear, clothing, and headwear: tsdr.uspto.gov#caseNumber=9...

For anyone interested in the speech-protective trademark doctrines that may - and may not - apply in the trademark lawsuit by Condé Nast (the owner of "Vogue" magazine) against the seller of "Dogue" magazine, I posted about the case here: www.linkedin.com/posts/lisapr...

Here are my thoughts about the NCAA's trademark lawsuit against DraftKings: www.linkedin.com/posts/lisapr...

This is an incredibly important piece by @masnick.com about the verdicts against Meta and I really hope you read it, because I think very few people understand the situation. Two things can be true...Meta and Zuckerberg are terrible, but so are these verdicts. www.techdirt.com/2026/03/26/e...

The Supreme Court just rewrote the rules for contributory copyright infringement. What it all means for secondary liability, the DMCA safe harbor, and the pending AI output cases—up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/supreme-cour...

Sony v. Cox is out. Basically Thomas applying same methodology as Star Athletica but in secondary liability context to substantially cut back on judge-made doctrine: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

What do the USPTO's denial of Snoop Dogg's application to register "Smoke Weed Everyday" & the Vogue/Dogue and NCAA/DraftKings trademark cases have in common? These disputes implicate speech-protective doctrines in TM law, as I discuss in my 3/26 webinar at 1 pm PT www.bigmarker.com/alt-legal/gi...

Vogue sues "a one-woman editorial operation that sells fewer than 100 copies per issue" Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/s...

snoop dogg's application to register SMOKE WEED EVERYDAY as a trademark for retail store services feat. cannabis products derived from hemp w/ a THC concentration of <0.3% refused by @uspto for 2 reasons: 1. services illegal per federal law, & 2. phrase too commonplace

Note that copyright already protects disembodied designs. So you don't *need* design patents for this stuff...unless your design fails to meet the low bar set by Feist. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Texas Says Lone Star State's Shape Can't Be A Trademark www.law360.com/articles/244...

@rtushnet.bsky.social always does a great job blogging about IP conferences she attends, and the recent Works in Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium at Boston University School of Law is no exception. Here are her notes about my trademark law panel: tushnet.blogspot.com/2026/02/wipi...

Last session of #WIPIP2026, and Alex Roberts @lexlanham.bsky.social asks “are we human, or are we brands now?” Or “I curated this look, so I must own it!” - Litigating Personal Brand: Intellectual Property & Construction of the Self

"trademark use, failure to function doctrine, & free speech" with @LPRamsey should the US explicitly adopt a tm use requirement for infringement liability? how do we determine whether use is use as a mark? when does a sign fail to function?

If you can’t join us at USD on February 23, Northeastern just posted the video of my February 3 presentation about the book: law.northeastern.edu/multimedia/t... Thanks again to Alex Roberts @lexlanham.bsky.social for hosting me and asking great questions!

Celebrate Prof. @lpramsey.bsky.social's new book "Trademarks and Free Speech: Conflicts and Resolutions" on Feb. 23 with a panel, reception, and a book signing. Register at: www.sandiego.edu/events/law/d...

Seedance 2.0 drew cease and desist letters within days. One detail that no one's caught: Disney’s letter landed on the desk of a former Warner Bros. GC—now ByteDance’s top lawyer. If that sounds tangled, wait until you get to the enforcement challenge. copyrightlately.com/meet-seedanc...

Congratulations to USD Law students Lexi McCrillis, Caroline Spaeth, Dylan Rees, and Madeleine Simmons for their amazing performance at the Saul Lefkowitz Regional Trademark Moot Court Competition in Los Angeles on February 7. They received 3 awards: - 1st Place: Lexi McCrillis and Caroline Spaeth

How To Think About AI: Is It The Tool, Or Are You? We live in a stupidly polarizing world where nuance is apparently not allowed. Everyone wants you to be for or against something—and nowhere is this more exhausting than with AI. There are those who insist that it’s all bad and there is nothing of…

Second Circuit Holds That the Hague Service Convention Prohibits Email Service on Mainland China-Based Defendants www.lexology.com/library/deta...

Should swear words or trending phrases be registered as trademarks for T-shirts? Is trademark dilution law unconstitutional? Northeastern University School of Law is hosting me for a Zoom lecture about my new book on Feb. 3 at 9:30 PT/12:30 ET. Please join us! law.northeastern.edu/event/tradem...

I am honored that my new Trademarks and Free Speech book is "Book of the Week" on TaxProf Blog (taxprofblog.aals.org/2026/01/23/t...). In other news, print copies are "Temporarily out of stock" on Amazon (a.co/d/aJLNJFx), so I guess that means the book is sold out and they are printing more?!?!

Non-TM owner can use 43(a) to challenge confusing use

Today is the publication date for my book “Trademarks and Free Speech: Conflicts and Resolutions”, and I want to thank everyone who provided written comments on drafts of my book chapters and/or asked me to talk about my book at their universities: Larry Alexander, Alexandra Allen-Franks,…

Congrats to Prof. @lpramsey.bsky.social on the launch of her book, "Trademarks and Free Speech: Conflicts and Resolutions." Celebrate with us on Feb. 23 at a panel discussion, followed by a reception & book signing. Sign up at: www.sandiego.edu/events/law/d...

For anyone interested in learning more about trademark and free speech law, I just discovered that Amazon is selling the paperback version of my book at a 12% discount: a.co/d/dMTmWgz Another fun fact: my book is the #1 top new release in trademark law! I look forward to the Jan 22 publication date.

11th Circuit affirms defense TM verdict; evidence of confusion is not evidence of harm for disgorgement

The publication date for my "Trademarks and Free Speech" book is next week (January 22!), so in advance I wanted to thank all of the amazing University of San Diego School of Law students who did an excellent job as research assistants for me while I worked on the book:

matthew mcconaughey has successfully registered a 7-second video of himself & a separate 3-second video of himself as "motion marks" with the @uspto the videos are trademarks for entertainment services & AV content, incl. personal appearances, acting, & film & tv production

Big and surprising copyright opinion in the 5th Circuit. In Vetter v. Resnik, the panel affirms the District Court, holding that when songwriter effected his termination rights under 17 USC 203, it applied to worldwide rights and not just U.S. rights.

DC, New Jersey Delis Reach Deal To End "Call Your Mother" Trademark Fight www.law360.com/articles/242...

OpenAI Says Cameo Lacks Name Recognition For TM Claim www.law360.co.uk/articles/242...

Before you close the books on 2025, here’s one more year-end list: my annual countdown of the year’s worst copyright decisions. Five cases. No spoilers. Let the debates begin. Up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/the-5-worst-...

Over the years, I've wondered if I should do a "Top 10 of the Year" list for design patents (like other people do for different areas of IP). But there were never enough DP developments to fill a list. This year in #ScheduleA, though, there's been so much going on that I struggled to pick just ten.

Highly recommend this Central District of California decision in Cloobeck v. Villaraigosa rejecting allegations of trademark infringement over political use of the phrase PROVEN PROBLEM SOLVER in connection with the 2026 California gubernatorial election: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...