AT&T announced a loyalty program called “AT&T Thanks”. Citibank had some problems with that. %CUT% Citibank thought the “AT&T Thanks” trademark would cause customer confusion with its loyalty program called “Thank You”. Citibank brought suit. Citibank argued that if anyone complains about AT&T’s rewards program, it would reflect badly on Citibank’s loyalty program. The court determined that the factors of customer confusion are either neutral or weigh against it. The court pointed out that customers seemed to be able to tell the difference among a wide variety of customer loyalty programs that use “Thank You” or some variation of it. So, they should be able to see the difference between a loyalty program for telecommunications services (AT&T) and one for financial services (Citibank). The judge denied Citibank’s motion for preliminary injunction.

Carpenters have a saying: "measure twice, cut once”. This opening line from a recent 7th Circuit Opinion says it all. %CUT% Final Call sold over a hundred copies of Jesus Ali’s portrait of Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, without Ali’s permission. Ali sued Final Call for copyright infringement. The trial court relied on authority from the 7th Circuit that, through a typo, incorrectly shifted the burden of proof of an affirmative defense from the defendant to the plaintiff. While taking some responsibility for the error, the 7th Circuit reversed and remanded for assessment of damages.

The USPTO won’t register a trademark for the sale of marijuana. %CUT%Morgan Brown tried to register the name of his Washington State store, Herbal Access, as a trademark for the sale of “herbs”. Morgan’s specimen of use was a picture of the store with a neon green cross on it. For those not in the know, the green cross signals the location of a medical marijuana dispensary. Seeing that, the intrepid examining attorney visited Morgan’s website and, sure enough, Morgan sold marijuana. The examining attorney refused registration based upon an unlawful use of the trademark in commerce. While the State of Washington allows the sale of medical marijuana, federal law does not. Registration would be barred as long as it’s a federal offense to sell marijuana. The refusal was confirmed on appeal to the TTAB.

Liking something on a Facebook page is not a form of Intellectual Property. %CUT% Stacy Mattocks created an unofficial Facebook fan page for the television series, “The Game”. Black Entertainment Television LLC (“BET”) acquired the rights to the show. BET allowed Stacy to use the trademarks and content on her fan page. BET even directed users to “like" Stacy’s fan page. BET was going to hire Stacy for a full time position. Negotiations broke down and Stacey didn’t get the job. BET instructed Facebook to migrate the page to BET. Stacy sued BET for stealing the “likes” on her Facebook page. The court held that Facebook “likes” can’t be stolen because they’re not a form of Intellectual Property.