NBC’s ‘Dunder Mifflin’ Trademark Squatter Claims Advance

NBCUniversal Media LLC plausibly claimed a man registered and enforced trademarks referencing its television shows like “The Office” in a bid to extract money by selling his rights, a California federal court ruled.

Kenneth Talbert failed to prove NBCUniversal has no unregistered law trademark rights in “Dunder Mifflin,” the paper company in “The Office,” and “Dillon Football,” the high school team in “Friday Night Lights,” the US District Court for the Central District of California said. The court also rejected Talbert’s arguments that NBCUniversal waited too long to sue and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the dispute, as it ...