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March 23, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case that pits Jack Daniel’s, the famous Tennessee whiskey company, against VIP Products, the country’s second-largest dog toy manufacturer. Jack Daniel’s is seeking to stop the production and marketing of a chewy dog toy called Bad Spaniels, which is shaped and decorated like a Jack Daniel’s bottle, but features a spaniel and the name “Bad Spaniels” on the label, instead of the iconic Jack Daniel’s name. Moreover, the toy promises “43% poo by volume, 100% smelly” instead of 40% alcohol by volume.
VIP Products, which manufactures the toy as part of a line of chewy dog toys called Silly Squeakers, claims that the Bad Spaniels parody is protected under the First Amendment. Jack Daniel’s, on the other hand, argues that the toy infringes on its trademark, confuses consumers, and tarnishes its reputation.
Jack Daniel’s brief notes its history and its trademarked name, which “appeals to whiskey drinkers … from bikers to bankers” and “is today the most valuable spirit brand in the world.” VIP’s lawyer Bennett Evan Cooper asserts that Jack Daniel’s “misses the point” when it equates the Bad Spaniels toy with knockoffs like marijuana-laced Oreos marketed as “Stoneos.” Cooper argues that “there is no bottle of dog food being sold. It’s a pretend trademark on a pretend label for a pretend bottle full of pretend content. The entire thing is a parody.”
VIP’s owner, Stephen Sacra, claims he got the idea for the Bad Spaniels parody when he was out for dinner and saw the iconic Jack Daniel’s bottle. Within 48 hours, he and his graphics designer drafted a design for a new toy that is now VIP’s best-selling product in major stores across the country.
