Nov 23, 2009
IADC member Scott Marrs recently won a major trademark case for Hollywood movie studios in what turned out to be a real dog fight. Rin Tin Tin, the famous German Shepherd puppy plucked from the battlefields of France by a United States soldier during World War I, was the subject of his clients’ recently released children’s movie, Finding Rin Tin Tin. A Texas German Shepherd dog breeding company immediately sued the studios for trademark infringement, claiming to own exclusive rights to the trademark “Rin Tin Tin”, and seeking all profits, along with the destruction of all movie discs. A Houston, Texas federal court recently ruled in favor of the studios, holding that their use of the name Rin Tin Tin in the body and title of the movie was a “fair use” and protected under the First Amendment
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