Friday 17 December 2021

US Supreme Court denies ugg petition

Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court has denied Australian Leather's petition challenging the lower courts interpretation of the doctrine of foreign equivalents.

We are very disappointed in the decision, given we had filed such a strong petition prepared by Seth Waxman and Tom Saunders from WilmerHale and Mark Bagley from Tolpin Law and also had strong support from the Commonwealth Government which filed an excellent amicus brief prepared by Donald Baker and Todd Miller of Baker & Miller.

Obviously the US Supreme Court placed no weight on the following views about the importance of the case, as expressed by the Commonwealth Government in its amicus brief:

"By refusing to bar U.S. trademarking of generic terms originating only in an English-speaking country of origin, the United States is unnecessarily discriminating against producers of products from those countries, while creating confusion for U.S. consumers as to the origin and sponsorship of the alternative sources of such products from important trading partners.

This regrettable situation could be promptly and effectively resolved by this Court agreeing to hear this case, and the Government respectfully urges it to do so."

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