Paula Hopkins and Victoria Villella published “Parody Proves to Be 'Whiskey' Business—But U.S. Supreme Court Sidesteps Clarifying the Rogers Test in Recent Trademark Decision” in MEALEY’S Litigation Report: Intellectual Property. The following is an excerpt:
On June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, finding that the First Amendment does not protect all uses of parody, in particular when the alleged infringing use functions as a trademark (aka brand) instead of as a non-branding part of an expressive work (e.g., a lyric of a song, or song title that repeatedly uses a toy brand name).