Class action alleging various New York state torts including false advertising arising from the Jets and Giants identifying themselves as New York teams when they play in New Jersey. Note to out-of-towners – both the Jets and the Giants have w-l records of 4 and 12.

Some coverage here (As of now, most of the coverage is behind paywalls) and this link is wonky.

Text of complaint in Suero v Jets and Giants jets and giants 1_22-cv-00031-AJN_1_PRIMARY DOCUMENT

The Cuban government seized Bacardi’s assets in Cuba in 1960. While the assignee of those rights may not lawfully utilize the mark in the U.S., the U.S. government will not extinguish any rights the assignee may have in the U.,S. Bacardi has been fighting this for decades. Coverage of the HAVANA CLUB saga here.

Text of complaint in Bacardi v PTO: bacardi v pto complaint

Prior Trademark Blog posts on the history of HAVANA CLUB and other Cuban trademarks here.

 

Kohzikode is a large city on the Malabar coast in the south west of India in the Kerala state. It is known in English as Calicut.


Calicut is one of the pivots on which world economic history turned. By the time of the 1400’s, Calicut had been an important trading city for  several hundred years – while the general area of the Malabar coast had been trading with Africa and Europe since antiquity.

Entering the 1400’s, the Venetians and the Genoese had dominated the Mediterranean and the lucrative trade between Asia and Europe, for hundreds of years. Portugal, spurred on by its ruler Prince Henry the Navigator, executed a decades-long plan to end-run the Mediterranean by “discovering” an all-water route to Asia.

In 1498, the Portuguese navigator, Vasco de Gama, landed in Calicut.

Portugal established trade with Calicut and other ports in India and in Southeast Asia. The Genoese and Venetian domination of trade had been weakened. The western and northern European trading powers (Spain, the Dutch, the English) eventually supplanted them.

However, after several visits by de Gama and other Portuguese ships carrying heavy cannon, the new trading relationship didn’t end well for Calicut. Or the Muslims he encountered. Or pretty much anyone the Portuguese encountered.

But Calicut survived, as does a fabric that originated there in the 11th century. Made of cotton from the Gujarat state of India, the fabric is unbleached, but often dyed once woven. Calicut was the birthplace of calico fabric.

More history of calico here

here.

 

 

 

The appellation of origin of the day is Mocha. Mocha is a city in Yemen, known as a market (not a grower) of coffee beans from the 15th through the 18th centuries.

A great deal of the coffee was imported from Harar in Ethiopia.  A mocha latte is a chocolate-flavored coffee beverage. This article suggests that beans from Mocha tasted chocolatey and not that the city began the practice of adding chocolate to coffee.

Heaven… I’m in heaven,
And the cares that hung around me through the week,
Seem to vanish like a gambler’s lucky streak,
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.

Arthur Murray, of dance studio fame, asserts rights in WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP for dance.

Idea for movie: A top ballroom dancer pairs with a plain, left-footed local girl when his maverick style earns him the disdain of his more conventionally-minded colleagues. Together, the team gives it their all and makes dreams of the National Championship title come true. ah, it’s been done.

text of complaint:  arthur murray

Tireboots by Universal Canvas, Inc. v. Tiresocks, Inc. et al, No. 1:2020cv07404 – (N.D. Ill. 2021)

Defendant allegedly redirected web  traffic to its site beginning in 2011.  Plaintiff learns of redirection in 2016 and takes corrective action (changing its name). Defendant ceeases the redirection in 2020. Plaintiff brings suit several months later.

Defendant moves to dismiss, alleging that the appropriate s/l was three years, while here, plaintiff had waited four years after discovery.

Held: Lanham Act torts are a continuing violation. If a tort involves continuing or repeated injury, the limitations period does not begin to run until the date of the last injury or the date the tortious act ceases. Here, that was in 2020. Motion to dismiss denied.

Text of decision: tireboots v tiresocks nd ill

The Daily Mail published an article that Michael Lindell, the My Pillow guy, alleging that he had had a “secret romance” with the actress Jane Krakowski, wooing her with flowers and champagne. Ms. Krakowski was allegedly impressed that Mr. Lindell had turned his life around, going from crack cocaine addict in his 20’s, to whatever he is now. The article mentioned that both Mr. Lindell and Ms. Krakowski denied knowing each other. Mr. Lindell sued for defamation, alleging that his supporters would be disappointed that he would have a secret relationship.

Held: Failure to plead the defendant had made defamatory statements that would hold Mr. Lindell up tp public hatred, shame, and ridicule (even if untrue). Neither Mr. Lindell and Ms. Krakowski are married, so an allegation that they are dating is not particularly scandalous. Furthermore, the target audience for the article was the general population, and, on the whole, they’re not all that worked up about this sort of thing. Mr. Lindell couldn’t define a sub-section of the audience that was the less of him in order to define the interpretation of the statement.

Mr. Lindell Has been dabbling in starting his own media company, named FRANK, so maybe it is just as well that he doesn’t help establish defamation precedents that are bad for the press.

lindell daily mirror defamation