Recently in Intellectual Property Law Category

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it's also cause for damages in a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Monday, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled in favor of Gucci on four of five contested issues in the companies' trademark infringement litigation. Gucci had claimed that Guess and its licensees knocked off Gucci designs, producing items that featured the brand's diamond-shaped logoed pattern, square "G" design, a signature script and tri-striped motif, reports Women's Wear Daily.

If you thrive on the drama of the Christian Louboutin-Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) red-soled shoe litigation, or any fashion litigation, then the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is a great place to get your fix.

While the Second Circuit is expected to issue its sole decision soon, we're guessing that red soles will soon make way for the appellate court to evaluate the power of the letter G in the Gucci v. Guess litigation.

What are the similarities and differences between these cases?

Viacom and YouTube are heading back to court.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube and Google Thursday. Viacom claims that YouTube, which is owned by Google, violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by allowing users to post copyright-protected content from Viacom’s networks without permission, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has no sympathy for counterfeiters, probably because the court is located close to the Canal Street counterfeit corridor. (The mumbled chorus of "Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton" promises en route to the subway gets old quickly.)

Thursday, the circuit upheld a $3 million infringement lawsuit judgment against the proprietors of one of the largest counterfeiting rings in the U.S., finding that the district court did not err in permitting overlapping civil and criminal trials against the defendants.

It sounds like the kind of bitter battle that you would read about in a comic book. Man versus self. Stan Lee versus … Stan Lee.

Except here, Plaintiff Stan Lee is actually Stan Lee Media Inc., (SLMI) the struggling, once-bankrupt company that comic creator extraordinaire Stan Lee founded in the late 1990s. Defendant Stan Lee is the aforementioned creative genius, who has since returned to Marvel.

And their battleground is the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments this week in the Christian Louboutin-YSL trademark appeal, once again raising the issue of whether a designer can trademark a color.

When U.S. District Judge Vincent Marrero ruled in August that a color cannot be protected, Louboutin, a 20-year veteran of the footwear industry, vowed to “fight like hell” for his sole.

He has lived up to that promise.

The questionably-trademarked Christian Louboutin red-soled shoes have found a friend in Tiffany blue.

The Louboutin YSL trademark dispute grew more colorful this week after Tiffany & Co. filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit, which is heading to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

But Tiffany’s brief isn’t motivated by love of the famous footwear; according to Susan Scafidi, director of Fordham University’s Fashion Law Institute, the world-famous jeweler is worried about protecting its trademarked blue. Scafidi told Women’s Wear Daily that a Louboutin trademark cancellation would “weaken color trademarks across the world of fashion.”

Is downloading a song the legal equivalent of performing a song when calculating music royalties? Last year, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said it wasn’t.

Hoping for a final word from the Supreme Court on the issue? You’re out of luck. In its Monday orders, the Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari in the case.

In case you missed the controversy when it was in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, we’ll recap for you.

For the shoe-obsessed, it may be the most important case to ever be heard in court. Ever.

Last week, Judge Vincent Marrero denied Christian Louboutin's motion for a preliminary injunction to halt production of Yves Saint Laurent's (YSL) Resort 2011 all-red shoes. In his opinion, Marrero explained, "Because in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the Court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning."

Louboutin, who has been making red soled shoes for almost 20 years, announced today that he will "fight like hell" in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to protect his trademarked red soles, reports Vogue UK.

So what's at stake?

You don't mess with The Zohan. Or at least, you don't mess with the guys who invented The Zohan.

Robert Cabell claims that Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow stole his idea of the wacky character that ultimately became "The Zohan" in the comedy film "You Don't Mess With The Zohan".

According to New York Post, Cabell had a similar character, Jayms Blonde, which he claims was ripped off by the Hollywood trio. He filed a copyright infringement lawsuit but his suit was thrown out by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Second Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that Cabell had failed to establish his claim for copyright infringement.

Cabell reportedly represented himself in the lawsuit.