Copyright v. Trademark - Maryland District Court Applies Dastar in Dismissing Trademark Claims in yet another Fortnite Dance Case - Brantley v. Epic Games PART II
Brantley v. Epic Games, Inc. , No. 8:19-CV-594-PWG, 2020 WL 2794016, at *12 (D. Md. May 29, 2020) This post is a Part II/II of a discussion of Brantley v. Epic Games . Part I discusses the Plaintiffs' Copyright claims , Part II addresses Plaintiffs Trademark claims. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/terps-show-off-running-man-challenge-dance-on-ellen-show/79982/ Topic: Copyright Preemption of the Lanham Act, Trademark Infringement, Dilution, False Endorsement, Dastar Takeaways: Alleging confusion as to the "person or entity that originated the ideas or communications that ‘goods [or services]’ embody or contain" rather than confusion as to the "producer of the product sold" fails to establish a Lanham Act claim under Dastar . A trademark must identify a unique good or service, therefore a trademark cannot be in itself a good or service, (i.e. the Running Man Dance cannot be a trademark for performances of the Running Man Dance.) Unlike t