In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down Campbell Soup Co. v. Campbell for Congress, the lawsuit over a political candidate's "Soup4Change" slogan and AI-generated soup can design. They cover the backstory, the trademark and First Amendment arguments, and how the Hershey case may influence the court's view of political campaign branding. Tune in for a clear look at where trademark law meets political speech.
Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez said the strength of the Trader Joe's name, the chain's own sale of tote bags, and the "strikingly similar" marks featuring the same red color, similar fonts and concentric circles could confuse consumers. "This is not one of the rare trademark infringement cases in which there is no plausible likelihood that a reasonably prudent consumer would be confused," Sanchez wrote.
In a divided decision that highlights ongoing tensions around trademark law's Failure to Function doctrine, the Federal Circuit in In re Brunetti, No. 2023-1539 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 26, 2025), vacated a TTAB refusal to register the word FUCK as a trademark for various consumer goods and retail services. The court rejected most of applicant Erik Brunetti's constitutional challenges but concluded that the Board failed to articulate a coherent standard for determining when widely-used words can function as source identifiers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Sunkist Growers, Inc. v. Intrastate Distributors, Inc., reversing the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's dismissal of Sunkist's opposition to Intrastate's trademarks. The decision highlights concerns regarding the use of non-trademark images in assessing likelihood of confusion between similar marks.
The Fifth Circuit's ruling in Reed v. Marshall establishes that trademark infringement claims under the Lanham Act cannot be sustained between co-owners of a trademark.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in In re: PT Medisafe Technologies affirming the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's (TTAB) application of its test for genericness in color marks.
