Paddletramps Appeals to Supreme Court

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

The Paddletramps litigation (Fraternal Law – 9/12, 1/13 and 3/13), which upheld the ability of fraternities and sororities to enforce their trademark rights against vendors who decline to enter into licensing agreements, may not be over just yet. The injunction granted by the trial court was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but Paddletramps, which for years sold products bearing the trademarked images of numerous fraternities and sororities, has now appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Paddletramps argues that there is a conflict between the various federal courts of appeals in the United States over the issues that were involved in the Paddletramps litigation. Whether or not the court will buy that argument and accept the case for review is not likely to be known until later this fall. It is a very rare case which the United States Supreme Court agrees to hear. Even if the court should agree to con­sider the case, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is likely to overturn the decisions below. But until the court makes its determinations, the Paddletramps decision is not quite final.