High Court Dog Toy Case Ushers in ‘Exciting’ Trademark Law Year

The US Supreme Court made it easy to see what trademark practitioners will be watching most closely in 2023: poop-joke dog toys shaped like whiskey bottles.

The high court also agreed to take up a question about the territorial reach of the Lanham Act after an appeals court awarded profits from foreign sales of Hetronic-branded radios. But the case with the tightest grip on attorneys’ attention is Jack Daniel’s Properties LLC‘s bid to undo a finding that the First Amendment protects “Bad Spaniels” dog toys mimicking the look and feel—or trade dress—of its liquor bottles.

This will be “an exciting ...