WASHINGTON — Mentions of a tipsy version of the Republican elephant logo, a famous pornographic movie and whiskey bottles (maybe) filled with dog urine made for lively Supreme Court oral arguments Wednesday over what is and isn’t trademark infringement.
The justices leaned on colorful and sometimes graphic examples as they grappled with the legal and constitutional implications of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey’s attempt to take a dog toy off the market for spoofing its distinctive bottle.
Some questions to the lawyers tried to tease out when a parody would cause confusion among the public about who made the product — either Jack Daniel’s or a company making fun of the whiskey maker.
