The AP reports: Judge Reject’s Axl’s Case to Stop Album
A federal judge has rejected a request by singer Axl Rose to stop an independent record label from releasing an album called “Hollywood Rose: The Roots of Guns N’ Roses.”… U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess denied the request for an injunction by citing the “nominative fair use” doctrine.
The nominative fair use doctrine is a creation of the Ninth Circuit, first introduced by Judge Kozinski in New Kids on the Block v. News America Publishing. Nominative fair use allows a person to use another’s trademark for commercial purposes if the mark is used to describe the mark owner’s goods or services and the use meets the following three criteria:
- the product or service in question must be one not readily identifiable without use of the trademark;
- only so much of the mark or marks may be used as is reasonably necessary to identify the product or service;
- the user must do nothing that would, in conjunction with the mark, suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.
For more about nominative fair use, check out the books at your local library, or see the following links:
Brother Records, Inc. v. Jardine, 318 F.3d 900 (9th Cir. 2003)
PACCAR Inc. v. TeleScan Technologies LLC, 319 F.3d 243 (6th Cir. 2003) (6th Circuit declines to recognize nominative fair use doctrine.)
Chad Dollinger, Nominative Fair Use: Jardine and the Demise of a Doctrine 1 Nw. J. of Tech. & Intell. Prop. 5 (Spring 2003).
Michael J. Smith, A Beach Boy, A Playmate And Five Guys From Boston Walk Into A Courtroom…
