Ninth Circuit Reverses Jack Daniel’s Trademark Win in Bad Spaniels Parody Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a permanent injunction for Jack Daniel’s against VIP Products, ruling that the distiller failed to meet its burden of proving trademark dilution by tarnishment under the TDRA.
WISECODE Take
The author notes that many business owners mistakenly believe that high trademark fame automatically makes any parody product infringing. The Ninth Circuit's August 2026 ruling, which reversed Jack Daniel’s win against VIP Products' dog toy, shows that the law still tolerates obvious parody. The key issue lies in the tarnishment analysis under the TDRA. The court found that the lower court failed to distinguish the fame of 'Jack Daniel’s' from 'Old No. 7', and that the parody toy did not actually tarnish the distiller's reputation. SMEs without household-name brands are unaffected by this ruling. However, for highly recognized brands, utilizing Zhidian's trademark monitoring service can help detect potential free-riding early on. First, assess whether the parody causes actual consumer confusion; if the humor is obvious, litigation may not be favorable. Second, when claiming dilution, fame must be proven independently for each specific mark.
Original sources
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