20 November, 2019
An Atlanta-based small business owner tussles with a national big box store over defending it’s food brand.
copycats, customer confusion, food, infringement, restaurant, trademark monitoring
Read more
30 October, 2019
Al Cass Inc., founded by World War II veteran, inventor, and renowned musician Alfred “Al Cass” Cassinelli, has brought suit against an Indiana company that it claims is trying to steal its iconic brand for musical instrument valve oil.
copycats, infringement, music
Read more
23 October, 2019
Californian coffee shop, Cat & Cloud, is one of a handful of small businesses with the word “Cat” in their name that construction equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar, has pursued for trademark infringement with respect to apparel.
coffee, construction, copycats, famous trademarks, infringement
Read more
21 August, 2019
Los Angeles-based salad giant Sweetgreen is a chain of over 90 healthy eateries, selling salads in a fast-casual setting since 2007. In 2016, two entrepreneurs in Minnesota started a fresh produce business, My Sweet Greens, and their name has become the latest problem for their growing business.
copycats, customer confusion, famous trademarks, infringement, restaurant
Read more
14 August, 2019
In early 2019, local restaurateur Mike Miller opened an arcade bar by the name “Level Up” — his second culinary venture in Kennewick, WA. As it turns out, he wasn’t the only one with the idea; “level up” is a common gaming phrase, and also the name of another arcade bar near the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR, which opened in 2012.
arcade, bar, copycats, customer confusion, infringement
Read more
02 July, 2019
The Des Moines bar, Up-Down, is a self-proclaimed “barcade” combining alcohol and arcade games. The “barcade” identifier, however, is causing them some trouble with the Brooklyn-based Barcade that owns locations in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. The Brooklyn Barcade also owns trademarks on the term “barcade,” covering bars, beer koozies, t-shirts and even Barcade software.
arcade, bar, copycats, infringement
Read more
25 June, 2019
Can you tell the difference between Biggby and Bixby? Biggby Coffee, a Michigan-based brand, owns and operates 235 locations across 8 states, and has been using an orange and black color scheme and logo since 2008, the same year they received federal registration for the mark(s). In March, Biggby filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a Texas-based coffee company of a similar name, Bixby.
cafe, coffee, copycats, famous trademarks, infringement
Read more
11 June, 2019
Upstate New Yorkers are more than familiar with the concept known as lake effect — as in lake effect snow. Now, lake effect is the subject of a trademark infringement case in Buffalo.
copycats, customer confusion, infringement, restaurant
Read more
06 June, 2019
The Absolut Company, a major liquor company out of Sweden and producer of Kahlua coffee liquors, have blocked a Hawaii company’s effort to trademark its Kaholo Kona Coffee.
coffee, copycats, customer confusion, famous trademarks, infringement
Read more