A trademark dispute over a poop-themed dog toy shaped like a Jack Daniel's whiskey bottle coming before the U.S. Supreme Court could redefine how the judiciary applies constitutional free speech rights to trademark law.
to be argued on Wednesday, the nine justices are expected to use this legal dogfight to clarify the line between a parody protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and a trademark-infringing ripoff, with repercussions extending beyond booze and pet accessories. A ruling is due by the end of June., is appealing a lower court's decision that Phoenix-based VIP Products LLC's "Bad Spaniels" chew toy is an "expressive work" protected by the First Amendment.
The toy mimics Lynchburg, Tennessee-based Jack Daniel's famous whiskey bottles with humorous dog-themed alterations - replacing "Old No. 7" with "the Old No. 2, on your Tennessee Carpet" and alcohol descriptions with "43% Poo By Vol." and "100% Smelly." Jack Daniel's said that under the 2nd and 9th Circuit decisions, "anyone could use a famous mark to sell sex toys, drinking games or marijuana bongs, while misleading customers and destroying billions of dollars in goodwill - all in the name of just having fun.
"Every First Amendment case has a spillover effect into other areas," VIP's attorney Ben Cooper of the firm Dickinson Wright said in an interview. "So this can't be seen as being compartmentalized into the world of trademarks."VIP told the justices its toy comments on "iconic alcohol brands' self-serious bombardment of consumers with advertising and dog owners' joyful humanization of their pets.
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