Professor David Tan on Trademarks & Parody in Sydney

Professor David Tan, Co-director of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL) and Head (Intellectual Property) at the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business, both at NUS Law, discussed how parodies may be better protected in trademark infringement and dilution claims.

Speaking on 6 March 2025 at the Trade Marks and Freedom of Expression Workshop at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), he evaluated how parody in trademark law has evolved over the last two decades in the United States. His paper traced how liberal judicial approaches in trademark infringement and dilution jurisprudence have been put to an abrupt halt in the recent Supreme Court decision concerning the Bad Spaniels dog toys that allegedly made fun of Jack Daniel’s famous whiskey mark. He concluded that freedom of expression interests are not necessarily eroded by a renewed focus on the likelihood of confusion analysis, and that a multifactorial approach – such as the use of the Sleekcraft factors in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – appropriately balance freedom of expression interests and trademark rights.

On 7 March 2025, he joined a plenary panel session on New Frontiers in Intellectual Property at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), discussing the treatment of parody in trademark law. Drawing on the different outcomes in judicial decisions regarding the Chewy Vuiton and Bad Spaniels squeaky dog toys, he highlighted how a successful parody may not save a parodist from liability in US trademark law today, and urged for appropriate doctrinal reforms to redress this situation.

Prof David Tan at the UNSW workshop

Prof David Tan with Prof Graeme Austin and Prof Martin Senftleben

The panel on trademarks at the New Frontiers in Intellectual Property Conference at UTS – L to R: Prof Michael Handler, A/P Rob Batty, Emeritus Prof Jill McKeough, Prof Lisa Ramsey, Prof Martin Senftleben and Prof David Tan