January 15, 2020 Baseball / Celebrities / Intellectual Property / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / MLB / Trademark

MLB’s Shane Bieber Faces Surprising Opposition to “Not Justin” Trademark

Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber is facing opposition to his attempt to register “Not Justin” as a trademark, though it’s not coming from pop star, Justin Bieber.

In August 2019, Shane Bieber applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to register “Not Justin” as a trademark. He wore a special jersey with the phrase on it, humorously referencing his uncommon last name that he shares with the pop star. Shane Bieber plans to use the phrase in standard character on various types of …

Court Denies Taylor Swift’s Motion to Dismiss Lucky 13 Suit

A California district court denied Swift’s motion to dismiss a trademark infringement suit over ‘Lucky 13’ brought by Blue Sphere, Inc. last May. Blue Sphere, an Orange county-based company, does a business as ‘Lucky 13’ and sells a wide range of products including clothing and has sued over Swift’s use of the phrase ‘Lucky 13’and selling via internet t-shirts bearing the phrase without the company’s authorization. Additionally, the suit named American Greetings as one of the defendants for running the online promotion of a “Lucky …