Jack Daniel's Properties v. VIP Products/Opinion of Justice Sotomayor
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 22–148
JACK DANIEL’S PROPERTIES, INC., PETITIONER v. VIP PRODUCTS LLC
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
[June 8, 2023]
Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Alito joins, concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion in full. I write separately to emphasize that in the context of parodies and potentially other uses implicating First Amendment concerns, courts should treat the results of surveys with particular caution. As petitioner did here, plaintiffs in trademark infringement cases often commission surveys that purport to show that consumers are likely to be confused by an allegedly infringing product. Like any other evidence, surveys should be understood as merely one piece of the multifaceted likelihood of confusion analysis. See, e.g., Uncommon, LLC v. Spigen, Inc., 926 F. 3d 409, 425 (CA7 2019). Courts should also carefully assess the methodology and representativeness of surveys, as many lower courts already do. See, e.g., Water Pik, Inc. v. Med-Systems, Inc., 726 F. 3d 1136, 1144–1150 (CA10 2013); Starbucks Corp. v. Wolfe’s Borough Coffee, Inc., 588 F. 3d 97, 117 (CA2 2009).
When an alleged trademark infringement involves a parody, however, there is particular risk in giving uncritical or undue weight to surveys. Survey answers may reflect a mistaken belief among some survey respondents that all parodies require permission from the owner of the parodied mark. Some of the answers to the survey in this case illustrate this potential. See App. 81–82, n. 25 (“ ‘I’m sure the dog toy company that made this toy had to get [Jack Daniel’s] permission and legal rights to essentially copy the[ir] product in dog toy form’ ”); ibid. (“ ‘The bottle is mimicked after the Jack Daniel BBQ sauce. So they would hold the patent therefore you would have to ask permission to use the image’ ”); see also Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Balducci Publications, 28 F. 3d 769, 772–773, 775 (CA8 1994) (describing a similar situation). Plaintiffs can point to this misunderstanding of the legal framework as evidence of consumer confusion. Cleverly designed surveys could also prompt such confusion by making consumers think about complex legal questions around permission that would not have arisen organically out in the world.
Allowing such survey results to drive the infringement analysis would risk silencing a great many parodies, even ones that by other metrics are unlikely to result in the confusion about sourcing that is the core concern of the Lanham Act. See ante, at 4, 10, 14. Well-heeled brands with the resources to commission surveys would be handed an effective veto over mockery. After all, “[n]o one likes to be the butt of a joke, not even a trademark.” 6 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition §31:153 (5th ed. 2023). This would upset the Lanham Act’s careful balancing of “the needs of merchants for identification as the provider of goods with the needs of society for free communication and discussion.” P. Leval, Trademark: Champion of Free Speech, 27 Colum. J. L. & Arts 187, 210 (2004). Courts should thus ensure surveys do not completely displace other likelihood-of-confusion factors, which may more accurately track the experiences of actual consumers in the marketplace. Courts should also be attentive to ways in which surveys may artificially prompt such confusion about the law or fail to sufficiently control for it.