Chippendales Loses a Legal Decision That Isn’t Really Interesting; Here’s an Awesome Chris Farley Sketch
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Chippendales in its efforts to trademark its well-known “cuffs-and-collars” male stripper garb, spawning headlines like “Chippendales rebuffed in trademark bid” (Los Angeles Times) and “Chippendales fails to trademark outfit” (DigitalSpy.com). The truth is something far more nuanced and technical than that: in fact, Chippendales has long had trademark protection for its “cuffs-and-collars” outfits, and the Federal Circuit’s decision affects only the extent of that protection, turning on a distinction between “acquired distinctiveness” and “inherent distinctiveness” that we really tried to make sound interesting, but it just isn’t.
So instead, let’s just use it as an excuse to re-watch this totally awesome Chris Farley sketch from Saturday Night Live:
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