Courts Cut Back on Rights of Trademark Owners-Licensors in Sports Industry

Editor’s note: Below is an excerpt from a speech given on June 9 by Joseph R. Dreitler, a partner of Jones Day, at the annual meeting of the International Collegiate Licensing Association   By Joseph R. Dreitler, Esq.*   In the last six years, the courts have retreated from what had been an expanding view of trademark law. In some cases they have abandoned their 50-year old precedent and ignored century old unfair competition law to stop those who would create a business off of anoth