In Ironhawk Technologies Inc. v. Dropbox, Inc., the Ninth Circuit considered two trademarks: SMARTSYNC by Ironhawk Technologies (the earlier-registered, “senior” mark) and SMART SYNC by storage space giant Dropbox (the later-filed,”junior” mark). The district court had granted Dropbox summary judgment on the grounds that, as a practical matter, Ironhawk was primarily selling to a highly…
Just when the world thought that we had moved past the peanut butter wars, another skirmish flared up in the Northern District of Ohio, East Division. In J.M. Smucker Company v. Hormel Food Corporation, the makers of JIF and SKIPPY peanut butter, respectively, jousted over trade dress. Smucker maintained that Hormel’s filing of a trademark…