Louis Vuitton found nothing funny about “My Other Bag is a Louis Vuitton”. %CUT% My Other Bag (“MOB”) manufactured and sold canvas bags that replicate pictures of famous and expensive brands. One of its bags replicated the Louis Vuitton bag. If you look at the picture of the bag, you can see that no one would mistake this for a real Louis Vuitton bag. The bag is meant to parody high priced leather goods and that not everyone can afford them. However, Louis Vuitton did not appreciate the humor. So it sued MOB for trademark infringement, dilution by blurring and copyright infringement. The District Court granted summary judgment to MOB stating that this was an obvious attempt at humor and is not likely to cause confusion. The Second Circuit agreed and affirmed the judgment. The Second Circuit noted that “A parody must convey two simultaneous – and contradictory – messages: that it is the original, but also that it is not the original and is instead a parody”.

If you have a powerful brand, don’t use your power to alienate your fans. %CUT% Last year, CBS and Paramount Studios sued Axanar Productions for copyright infringement. Using a 20 minute short film, Axanar had raised over $1 million through Kickstarter and Indiegogo to finance a full length fan fiction film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1_8IV8uhA). The proposed film was to follow the story of Captain Kirk’s hero, Garth of Izar. CBS/Paramount, who own Star Trek, had a problem with it. This wasn’t the first fan fiction spinoff and CBS/Paramount usually encouraged it. Fan films can enlarge the universe, attract new fans and build loyalty among the current fan base. But Axanar got too close. Commentators speculate that the Axanar’s production values were too good and would have commercial potential. Star Trek fans were appalled at CBS/Paramount’s aggressive tactics. Even J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin, directors of the most recent Star Trek films, supported Axanar. CBS/Paramount tried to calm some of the bad press by coming out with guidelines for producing fan films (http://www.startrek.com/fan-films). Meanwhile, CBS/Paramount continued its lawsuit against Axanar. Last week, CBS/Paramount and Axanar announced that they have settled the dispute. In exchange for CBS/Paramount dropping the suit, Axanar has agreed to follow the fan films guidelines which include a restriction on the length of the films, requiring the use of official merchandise and keeping them family friendly.

If you don’t own it, asking for a preliminary injunction is the wrong strategy. %CUT%VitaVet Labs, Inc. sells horse vitamins. Its website was old and clunky. VitaVet hired Integrated Software Solutions, Inc. to update the site. According to the terms of the agreement, VitaVet owned the source code and had an absolute right to access it. VitaVita was to pay Integrated on an incremental basis upon receipt of deliverables. From almost the beginning, things went wrong. Integrated didn’t reach its project development goals. VitaVet paid some of the installments but VitaVet was not pleased with Integrated’s work. Meanwhile, VitaVet’s website was getting clunkier and harder to use. Integrated asserted that the software was finished but VitaVet didn’t agree. So VitaVet refused to pay the remaining installments. Integrated filed suit and sought a preliminary injunction. VitaVet countersued for a preliminary injunction seeking turnover of the source code. Usually, a preliminary injunction just maintains the status quo. The status quo was that Integrated had the source code and wouldn’t have to turn it over to VitaVet. But in this case, the trial court entered a preliminary injunction order that changed the status quo and ordered Integrated to turnover the source code to VitaVet. In affirming the decision, the California Appellate Court reasoned that the balance of equities favored disturbing the status quo in VitaVet’s favor. VitaVet owned the source code and VitaVet had a dire need to upgrade its website. So much for Integrated’s aggressive strategy against VitaVet.

The year 2016 had its share of notable people who got the attention of federal criminal authorities. Here are the winners. %CUT% As we enter awards season, we recognize those who put considerable time and effort into criminal activity involving Intellectual Property. The awards go to:

Entrepreneurs who work hard and build a business over decades realize that, at some point, they need to think about slowing down and stepping back. Frequently, planning and specific decisions about transition are put off. Entrepreneurs worry about two things that can make delay an attractive option. Number one is a concern about their standard of living if they sell their business. Number two is facing the prospect of disposing of the entrepreneur’s legacy business that may represent a lifetime of work and achievement.