How Penn State Trial Against Retailer Could Upend TM Law
November 7, 2024 – Media MentionLitigation Partner, James Molen, shared his insights with Law360 regarding Pennsylvania University taking legal action against Vintage Brand LLC for selling clothing and other merchandise with screen-printed images of memorabilia and historic logos of the university.
Excerpts:
"In the Fifth Circuit, there's no undertaking of a fact-intensive inquiry into whether the consumers actually believe the trademark holder had manufactured or sponsored the product," said James Molen of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP. "And that's different from circuits like the Ninth that do a more fact-intensive inquiry."
"Those surveys are going to ask questions like, 'Who do you think was the source of these goods? Did you think Penn State sponsored it?' Questions along these lines [will] try to ascertain what they were thinking at the time of the purchase," said Molen of Greenberg Glusker. "And I think, by and large, that favors Vintage Brand because most consumers are going to say they didn't think about it."
