It’s Hard for Parodic Products to Tarnish Famous Trademarks–Bad Spaniels v. Jack Daniel’s

💩 However, “as JDPI concedes, the ‘Bad Spaniels’ mark ‘does not itself refer to defecation’ and therefore is not facially tarnishing.” This simple principle filters out a lot of Jack Daniel’s arguments:The only marks JDPI proved famous are “Jack Daniel’s” and its registered trade dress. For example, Jack Daniel’s objects to Bad Spaniels’ “43% poo by volume,” but Jack Daniel’s use of “40% alc. The panel’s methodology essentially isolates each parodic element rather than look at the combined effect of the Bad Spaniels’ toy. It seems like Bad Spaniels was a good wording choice, but would Pooping Spaniels have been a bad choice?