Supreme Court Sides With Jack Daniel’s on Trademark Case
By Zeyu Su, The Ohio State Class of 2025
June 12, 2023
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. in their trademark dispute over VIP Products LLC’s poop-themed dog toy that mimics and resembles Jack Daniel’s iconic whiskey bottle. Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc., owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation, which is one of the biggest wine and spirits producers in the world, and sells the best-selling American whiskey in Jack Daniel’s. Its opposition, VIP Products LLC, produces the “Bad Spaniels” dog toy. Initially, the lower courts ruled the dispute in favor of VIP Products LLC, claiming that Jack Daniel’s could not enforce its trademarks against VIP Products, as the dog toy was an expressive work that was protected and covered by the First Amendment’s free speech rights. However later, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling and sided with Jack Daniel’s.
The reason why VIP Products’ “Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker” dog toy became controversial and got accused of infringing Jack Daniel’s trademark is because the dog toy shares the same general shape of a regular Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle. The dog toy also happens to have a nearly identical font style as Jack Daniel’s and uses a black label just like Jack Daniel’s.
Written by Justice Elena Kagan, the unanimous ruling opinion favoring Jack Daniel’s will allow them to get one more chance at disputing against VIP Products, as the trademark lawsuit will be revived and returned to the lower courts.
Although the unanimous opinion is a huge victory for Jack Daniel’s, their request to completely abandon and throw out the test that the appeals court used to determine the ruling in favor of VIP Product’s dog toy. This would have been a move that would give trademark holders wider freedom to sue companies that produce parodic products and consumer goods. Justice Elena Kagan has also said that although it was a unanimous ruling decision, it was also a narrow opinion, and they were unsure if the Rogers Test is appropriate, or how far would the “noncommercial use” exclusion go. The Rogers Test is a test that allows trademark use in expressive works if it is indeed artistically relevant, which does not apply to the Jack Daniel’s dispute case.
After hearing the news of unanimous decision favoring Jack Daniel’s, a spokesperson for the company, Svend Jansen, said “we are pleased with the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision recognizing the rights of brand owners, and we will continue to support efforts to protect the goodwill and strength of this iconic trademark” in the latest statement. On the other hand, when asked for comments, an attorney for VIP Products declined CNN’s request for comment.
Legal experts and attorneys that specialize in intellectual property law believe that hope is not all lost for VIP Products. Despite the Supreme Court siding with Jack Daniel’s at the moment, the dog toy still has a good chance to prevail as the lower courts take another look at the dispute. VIP Products still has the chance and ability to argue that the use and intent of the dog toy are not to cause confusion.
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Cole, D. (2023, June 8). Supreme Court sides with Jack Daniel’s in poop-themed dog toy trademark fight. CNN. Retrieved June 10, 2023, from https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/politics/jack-daniels-bad-spaniels-supreme-court/index.html
Stohr, G. (2023, June 8). Jack Daniel’s Wins Supreme Court Bid to Sue Over ‘Bad Spaniels.’ Bloomberg Law. Retrieved June 10, 2023, from https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/jack-daniels-wins-round-at-supreme-court-in-trademark-fight
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Animation Inspiration: Arcane
Throughout this show, I REALLY loved it's stylistic and illustrative approach as I found it to be aesthetically pleasing. I really liked the 2D effects applied onto the 3D environment such as any fire or explosive effects.
I also liked this fan-edit of the show that was really timed well to the music! I could possibly incorporate transitions like this in my animated short, where the character is in Scene A picking up something and then transitions into Scene B doing the same action, to appear seamless. (Examples of transitions like this remind me of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Baby Driver- Edgar Wright's iconic transitioning in films)
Various Videos:
How Arcane was Made - Stylised Station
Making Of ARCANE - Best Of Behind The Scenes | League Of Legends | Netflix Original Series (2021) - Stream Wars
Animator explains why Arcane is mostly 2D - Zeyu Ren
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