A 10-year trademark battle over a Jack Daniel’s-inspired dog toy that escalated to the Supreme Court has emerged from a U.S. district court, which found that, even though consumers were unlikely to confuse the irreverent toy with the famous brand, its repeated references to dog poop tarnished the whiskey maker’s mark.
The divergent decision issued Thursday by U.S. District Senior Judge Stephen McNamee of the District of Arizona found Jack Daniel’s was entitled to a permanent injunction against the “Bad Spaniels” chew toy.