The Little Couple, F-Bombs and Dodgy Boxes – Today’s Interesting IP (12 January 2018)

Louis Vuitton spared from fee-shifting in ‘obvious’ parody case; appea

Louis Vuitton spared from fee-shifting in ‘obvious’ parody case; appea

Neither U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman nor the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals thought much of Louis Vuitton’s trademark and copyright case against a small company that sold canvas tote bags riffing on Vuitton’s hallowed toile monogram design. Judge Furman granted summary judgment (156 F.Supp.3d 425) to My Other Bag in January 2016, holding that the canvas totes were an “obvious” parody that, if anything, enhanced the power of Vuitton’s brand. The 2nd Circuit affirmed (674 Fed.Appx. 16) summary judgment a mere two weeks after the court heard oral arguments – during which Judge Gerard Lynch said Vuitton was trying to “bully” My Other Bag and would be “laughed out of the room” if it asserted its trademark dilution arguments to jurors or jury consultants.

Source: www.reuters.com/article/legal-us-otc-vuitton/louis-vuitton-spared-from-fee-shifting-in-obvious-parody-case-appeal-expected-idUSKBN1F02WJ