Criminal copyright infringement can get you kicked out the U.S. %CUT% Raul Zaragoza-Vaquero has been in the U.S. for less than 5 years. Raul sold bootleg CDs. Raul’s business model got him convicted of criminal copyright infringement. But his troubles didn’t end there. The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the deportation of someone who engages in crimes involving moral turpitude. So immigration authorities started proceedings to deport Raul. Raul appealed to the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals to allow him to stay in the U.S. He lost. Although there was little precedent for it to rely on, the Board ruled that copyright infringement is a crime involving moral turpitude. The Board relied heavily on precedent in criminal trademark infringement cases and other theft type cases. The Board also looked to the legislative intent that copyright infringement enforcement was an important priority.

If you use a phrase to describe your product, it probably isn’t a trademark. %CUT% Simone Kelly-Brown registered the phrase “Own Your Power” in a special form (see the first picture). When Oprah Winfrey’s “O” Magazine used the same phrase on its cover (second picture), Kelly-Brown sued for trademark infringement. The case took a tortured path up and down from trial court to appellate court to trial court and back to appellate court. In the end, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Oprah and her publisher. The Court held that Kelly-Brown’s use of the phrase was merely descriptive of her products and services. Oprah demonstrated that the phrase had been in use since at least 1981. Oprah, herself, used the phrase in a 1993 commencement address which predated Kelly-Brown’s use of the phrase. Kelly-Brown tried to argue that the mark had acquired secondary meaning because the consuming public had come to identify the mark with her goods and services. But, the trial court held that Kelly-Brown didn’t have enough proof to support her position.

Translating a word incorrectly can put a trademark registration at risk. %CUT% Aachi Spices & Foods brought a proceeding before the TTAB to cancel Kalidos Raju’s trademark registration for “Aachi” for various food products. Aachi alleged that Raju’s registered trademark interfered with its prior rights in a mark using the same word. Raju defended the proceeding by claiming that Aachi Spices & Foods was guilty of “unclean hands”. “Unclean hands” is an equitable doctrine that prevents a party from relying on its registration if it made a false statement during the trademark application process. According to Raju, Aachi Spices & Foods translated the word “Aachi”, to mean ‘distinguished lady’. Raju said that the word really means ‘grandmother’. The TTAB found evidence that the word is translated in different ways including both of the proposed translations. Aachi Spices & Foods’ petition to cancel Raju’s registration was granted.