One is nice. Two is better. You may not have to get to three. %CUT% Christian Faith Fellowship Church in Zion, Illinois registered the name and design mark “ADDAZERO” for its fundraising campaign. Adidas, the international sportswear powerhouse, tried to register “ADIZERO” for clothing. The USPTO refused registration based on a likelihood of confusion with the Church’s trademark. Adidas thought it found a chink in the Church’s registration because the Church had only sold two hats to out-of-state residents. So Adidas brought a cancellation proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The TTAB held that two sales were not enough and cancelled the trademark. On appeal, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the TTAB. The Court held that trademark law only requires use in commerce that is an activity regulated by commerce. The two sales to out-of-state residents were enough.

As the Cubs neared their historic World Series win, opportunists saw a way to cash in. %CUT% Imagine if you will, it’s September 2016. Cubs are on their way to breaking a 108 year losing streak. The streets of Chicago are lined with euphoric fans. Tables full of Cubs merchandise are everywhere. Street vendors are encouraging fans (whether die hard or fair weather) to purchase logo branded merchandise to support the Cubs. But there’s a problem with this picture. Some of those vendors don’t have a license from the Cubs. So, their blue, red and white merchandise is counterfeit. The Cubs filed suit against 84 counterfeit vendors seeking an injunction. The suit was settled with a confidential settlement agreement and a permanent injunction. What isn’t confidential is that the vendors acknowledged that their products bear “substantially indistinguishable” or “confusingly similar” imitations of the Cubs’ marks. The vendors also admitted they have no legitimate right to use those marks.

If you don’t own the rights to your content, it could go places you don’t want it to go. %CUT% Actor and musician, Jared Leto’s production company, Sisyphus, hired Naeem Munaf to shoot a video of Leto’s band for promotional purposes. The parties didn’t have a written agreement. In the video, Leto made some disparaging remarks about Taylor Swift. Realizing that he had a celebrity dis gold mine, Munaf sold the offending video to TMZ.com for $2,000. Two days after TMZ.com posted the video, Sisyphus had Munaf sign a non-disclosure agreement. Sisyphus’s team then registered the video with the U.S. Copyright Office and sued Munaf for copyright infringement. The court granted summary judgment for Munaf.