The BUSKLAW Newsletter

(Author's Note: Thanks to my friend - and intellectual property attorney/patent litigator extraordinaire - Dave Donoghue for bringing this case to my attention.) Do these goats on a roof look happy? Are they demeaned because they have been relegated to grazing on a grass-covered roof? Are you offended by these roof goats?  That's what Plaintiff Todd Bank alleged in his attempt to have Defendant Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant's "goats-on-a-roof" trade dress registration canceled, a dispute that found its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals last year . Here's the trade-dress mark at issue: We start with the basics. U.S. trademark law allows registration of a trade dress as a symbol or device. That's what Al Johnson did to attract customers to his eatery. Mr. Bank took offense and sought to cancel the mark. The Court cited well-established law that the party seeking to cancel a mark must first prove that it has standing. To establis...