I ♡ Trademarks Newsletter Issue #436
Bri Van Til | June 17, 2025
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Retail You What
Canadian Tire—notably not a tire shop but rather an automotive parts, sporting goods, and housewares store—has bought the trademarks of Hudson’s Bay, an apparel company.
Food producer Mondelez is suing Aldi for trademark infringement, alleging the grocer’s knockoff versions too closely resemble their own Oreos, Wheat Thins, and Chips Ahoy products.
What enforcement tools can help companies protect against grey market sales of their products?
Nebraska’s attorney general is suing Temu for allegedly installing malware on residents’ phones and selling counterfeit goods. The discount retailer recently partnered with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition and pledged to try to stop counterfeiting on their site.
Tech It to Court
One way to get your competition to license your technology is to get the ITC to investigate them and then simultaneously file suit for patent infringement. Or maybe they could try sending brownies. Either way.
This Recent(ive) Federal Circuit decision may make it difficult to obtain patents for technologies that include conventional machine-learning techniques.
Tech company IYO is alleging that OpenAI copied their wearable AI product after execs pitched it and provided prototypes to the AI tech giant. IYO is suing for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Intel is opposing the trademark application for IMYSTICALINTEL for computer hardware.
If you missed our webinar last week about copyright registrations for AI-produced art, you can watch the recording here.
My TRIPS This Summer
Canada’s Trademark Opposition Board is requiring attorneys to include in their proceedings declarations of where they’ve used AI.
Here’s a handy guide to registering trademarks in Brazil.
Some claim China’s commerce ministry is demanding sensitive IP data in exchange for access to the country’s supply of rare earth minerals.
Did you know Alt Legal’s Resource Library has all sorts of resources not just about US trademarks but also about jurisdictions around the world? Check it out here, and if you find yourself in need of specific resources, let me know!
Happy birthday, TRIPS Agreement! If that agreement still TRIPS you up after 30 years, you can find out more about it here.
Professional Concerns
I say I’m working for PlayStation when I’m playing video games, but if you get this job as IP litigation counsel, you could say it and be accurate, not cheeky. Not sure which is better.
You can get Waymo from your job if you serve as IP and AI counsel for this tech company.
Primary Arms—are those arms elementary or are they red, yellow, and blue?—is looking for corporate counsel.
Get this job as IP enforcement counsel at The Pokémon Company so you can go after infringers because someone’s gotta catch ’em all!
Have an open role on your team? Send a link to your job listing to [email protected], and we’ll publish it in our next newsletter.
Odds and Ends
Nominate someone amazing to lead or serve on an INTA committee. And yes, that someone amazing could be you!
This lawsuit against Lady Gaga for $100 million serves as a reminder about the importance of clearing names, even for album titles and tours, before use.
Disney and Universal are suing AI company Midjourney, claiming not only the training dataset but also the output infringes their copyrights.