After enjoying several decades of acceptance across many circuit courts, the future of the so-called “Rogers test” is uncertain. Established in the landmark Second Circuit case Rogers.
On December 5, the Second Circuit issued a decision in Vans, Inc. v. MSCHF Product Studio, Inc., a trademark case involving a sneaker product purporting to parody the Vans Old Skool shoe.
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Retired professional wrestler Booker T. Huffman (professionally known as Booker T), and developer of the
Call of Duty video game franchise, Activision, faced-off in a copyright dispute in the Eastern District of Texas. The case centers on allegations that Activision infringed Booker T’s copyright in a poster (the “Arroza Poster”) he used to promote his comic,
G.I. Bro and the Dragon of Death. The comic stars a “special operations hero called G.I. Bro,” which bears a strong resemblance to Booker T and one of his in-ring personas, “G.I. Bro.” Booker T commissioned the poster in 2015 from the artist, Erwin Arroza, to promote the comic, and distributed copies of the poster at comic conventions and other events.