Posts Tagged: "Traffix Devices"

Seventh Circuit Clarifies When Utility Patents Can Be Used as Evidence of Functionality in Trade Dress Cases

On June 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided Bodum USA, Inc. v. A Top New Casting Inc., No. 18-3030, 2019 (7th Cir. June 12, 2019). The case was based on Bodum’s allegation that A Top infringed Bodum’s unregistered trade dress in its Chambord® French press coffee maker design and squarely addressed the doctrine of “functionality” of trade dress. The court addressed two important issues related to functionality: (1) what type of evidence is necessary to prove functionality of a particular design and (2) under what circumstances are utility patents relevant to that analysis?

Nicole Wing & Daniel Shulman

August 8, 2019

Trademark Cases of the United States Supreme Court

In 1879 the United States Supreme Court first had the opportunity (and necessity) to address whether Congress had been granted in the Constitution the power to enact legislation to protect trademarks. Since 1879 there have been many cases involved trademark issues that have wound up the top Court in the United States. But a summary start to finish of all Supreme Court trademark cases is even a bit ambitious for us in a single article. Thus, what follows is a summary of those trademarks issues that have reached the Supreme Court over the last generation.

Gene Quinn & Michael Sullivan

October 16, 2012