“Cesari V. Peju May Have Reverberating Results”

Marsha G. Gentner, Washington, D.C.-based senior counsel in Dykema’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, is the author of the Law360 Expert Analysis column, “Cesari V. Peju May Have Reverberating Results.”

Gentner examines a U.S. District Court case upholding a 2004 Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denial of a California winery’s registration of a brand because of likely confusion with an Italian winery’s similar—and already registered—label. When the American vintners attempted once again to register the same brand name in 2016, the Southern District of New York ruled that the TTAB decision precluded the California company from re-applying for a trademark. Gentner reveals which recent Supreme Court case influenced the District Court’s ruling and predicts that Trademark Board decisions are likely to carry more weight in future court decisions.

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