High Court Asks Disney to Respond in Another ‘Rogers’ Challenge

The US Supreme Court asked Disney to respond to a petition asking it to reconfigure a rule for trademarks in expressive works—roughly two weeks after agreeing to hear a case challenging the same rule.

Diece-Lisa Industries Inc. appealed a finding that Disney Store USA’s “Lotso Bear” character in Toy Story 3 didn’t infringe its “Lots of Hugs” toy trademark because it passed an expression threshold known as the Rogers Test. Like Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc.—whose just-granted petition protested a court’s approval of a whiskey bottle-shaped, pun-laden dog toy—Diece-Lisa argues the test has become far too broadly applied.

The Dec. 2 ...