Dorothy Ruth Pirone, Julia Ruth Stevens, Babe Ruth League, Incorporated and Curtis Management Group, Incorporated v. MacMillan Incorporated

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing that New York courts have held that the only right of publicity under New York law is statutory
• explaining that trademark is not property in ordinary sense and, like majority, highlighting role of consumer confusion
• relying on defendant’s declarations in granting motion to transfer, while denying motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction
• while Abercrombie categories “can be useful” in the inquiry, establishing protectibility of a mark “depends ultimately on its distinctiveness ... in the eyes of the purchasing public.”
• right of publicity is an aspect of the right of privacy and therefore does not survive death
• “The act of registering a proper noun as a trademark, however, ‘does not withdraw it from the language, nor reduce it to the exclusive possession of the registrant.’” (citations omitted)

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).