A dog accessory maker’s claim that a dog chew designed as a parody of a Jack Daniels bottle was an “expressive work” rather than a trademark infringement is on the rocks after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the bourbon maker in a decision on Thursday.
VIP Products LLC, which sold the “Bad Spaniels” chew toy, had argued that the parody chews were protected under the US Constitution’s First Amendment, Reuters reported. The bites are a shipment of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee whiskey bottle with labels such as “the Old No. 2, on your Tennessee Carpet.”
The Supreme Court rejected lower court rulings in favor of VIP products, finding that the so-called Rogers legality test, which allows artists to legally use another̵
7;s trademark when it has artistic relevance to their work and will not mislead consumers, did not apply. to the scatological chewers, the newswire reported.Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the test does not apply when the infringer “used a trademark as a trademark,” Reuters reported.
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