Dog-Tag Maker May Get Advisory Jury in Pentagon Trademark Suit

A federal judge left the door open for Shields of Strength to have an advisory jury hear the dog-tag maker’s noninfringement claims over the US military’s trademarks, finding an exception to the government’s immunity.

Issues of fact in the declaratory judgment lawsuit against the Pentagon are for a judge to decide, but “the federal government’s sovereign immunity from factfinding on those claims by a jury, as opposed to a judge, has not been clearly and unequivocally waived,” Judge J. Campbell Barker wrote in an opinion filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Shields sued ...