supreme court roundup #2: parodic trademarks
bad dog!
Welcome back to day 2 of my Supreme Court roundup! Yesterday, I talked about how the decision limiting the availability of the “fair use” defense in copyright infringement lawsuits will likely be bad for art but good for artists. Today, I’m tackling another intellectual property domain—trademark. Specifically, the trademark case pitting a parodic dog toy against a famous whiskery manufacturer.
As a reminder, these roundups are not, and are not intended, to be full summaries—if you want that, go to SCOTUSblog—but are rather highlights that I find interesting and which implicate broader societal questions. I am not a “Supreme Court expert.” I am just a girl with a JD who teaches a course on intellectual property, has read a fair number of Supreme Court decisions, and likes thinking about the world we live in.
Background
If you have pets, you probably loooove buying stuff for them. Especially toys resembling objects for humans—there’s just something so cute about giving your cat their own l…