On May 26, 2020, Sharoni Finkelstein published “Ruling Could Be Used to Validate Successive Trademark Suits Over Time” in Daily Journal. The following is an excerpt:
On May 14, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ application of res judicata to bar Lucky Brand’s assertion of a defense in a 2011 lawsuit where it failed to litigate that same defense in a separate lawsuit in 2005. Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. v. Marcel Fashions Group, Inc., 2020 DJDAR 4589. The court held that Lucky Brand’s defense in the 2011 suit could not be precluded because the two suits were “grounded on different conduct, involving different marks, occurring at different times.”