Sarah Bro

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Sarah Bro is the office managing partner for the Firm’s Orange County office. She focuses her practice on trademark prosecution, enforcement and brand portfolio management, as well as licensing, due diligence, copyright, right of publicity and domain name matters. Read Sarah Bro's full bio.

House Backs Senate With Its Own Proposed NO FAKES Act to Control Digital Replicas

By Sarah Bro on Sep 19, 2024
Posted In Technology

Following the introduction of the NO FAKES Act of 2024 in July by a bipartisan group of US Senators, US Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Rob Wittman (R-VA), and Joe Morelle (D-NY) introduced the identically named companion legislation, Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO...

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NO FAKES Act Would Create Individual Property Right to Control Digital Replicas

By Sarah Bro on Aug 8, 2024
Posted In Technology

On July 31, 2024, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2024 to protect the voice and visual likeness rights of individuals from unauthorized use in the form of digital replicas, including digital replicas created by generative artificial intelligence (AI). The bill...

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Foreign Sales to Foreign Customers Are Not Actionable Under the Lanham Act

By Sarah Bro on May 9, 2024
Posted In Trademarks

Issuing a revised opinion following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic Int’l, Inc., the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit determined that none of the defendant’s purely foreign sales to foreign customers can premise liability for the plaintiff’s Lanham Act claims and that any permanent injunction issued against...

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A Lesson in Laches: You Waited Too Long to Start Your Kar

By Sarah Bro on May 2, 2024
Posted In Trademarks

After the district court, on remand, held that laches did not bar relief, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit again determined that the district court abused its discretion by not properly applying the presumption in favor of laches and issued an order to vacate and remand with instructions to dismiss a charity’s...

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Easy Tiger: Docuseries Summary Judgment Remanded for Further Fair Use Consideration

By Sarah Bro and Eleanor B. Atkins on Apr 11, 2024
Posted In Copyrights

Addressing copyright fair use in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent guidance in Warhol, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit partially reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The Tenth Circuit held that the first fair use factor (the purpose and character of the use)...

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Burst That Bubble: Specific Knowledge Necessary to Prove Contributory Trademark Infringement

By Sarah Bro and Kathleen Lynch on Aug 3, 2023
Posted In Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed contributory trademark infringement for the first time, finding that specific knowledge is required for liability to attach. Y.Y.G.M. SA, DBA Brandy Melville v. Redbubble, Inc., Case Nos. 21-56150; -56236 (9th Cir. July 24, 2023) (Callahan, Nelson, Thomas, JJ.) Brandy Melville manufactures clothing and home goods...

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“TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Decision Heads to Supreme Court

By Sarah Bro on Jun 15, 2023
Posted In Cert Alert, Trademarks

The Supreme Court agreed to review the US Patent & Trademark Office’s (PTO) challenge to a February 2022 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the ruling at issue, the Federal Circuit held that applying Sec. 2(c) of the Lanham Act (which bars registration of a trademark that consists of...

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Nitpicking Allowed When Determining Statutory Damages

By Sarah Bro on Apr 13, 2023
Posted In Copyrights

On the second round of a copyright dispute, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded (again) to the district court to apply the “independent economic value test” handed down by the Court in the first iteration of the dispute to determine what constitutes as “one...

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The Fondues and Don’ts of Certification Marks

By Sarah Bro on Mar 16, 2023
Posted In Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment grant in favor of the opposers of a certification mark application for the trademark GRUYERE to designate cheese that originates in the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France. The Court found that the term “gruyere” is generic because consumers of cheese understand...

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