Edited by Paul Devinsky and Rita Weeks
TRADEMARKS / CONFUSING SIMILARITY
Parody Not a Defense When Trademarks Are Confusingly
Similar
by Ulrika E. Mattsson
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the TTAB) held that a
novelty T-shirt company's trademark registration showing a polo
player falling off his horse was confusingly similar to the famous
trademark logo owned Ralph Lauren for a polo player sitting on his
horse. The TTAB further found that "parody is not a
defense if the marks are otherwise confusingly similar."
PRL USA Holdings v. Thread Pit, Cancellation No. 92047436
(TTAB, May 14, 2012).
Ralph Lauren petitioned to cancel a trademark registration owned
Thread Pit for a logo showing a polo player falling off his horse,
arguing, among other things, likelihood of confusion of the two
marks. Thread Pit asserted as an affirmative defense that its
use of its mark is a parody of Ralph Lauren's marks. They
also argued that the fame of Ralph Lauren's
