Seneca Resources v. Township of Highland — civil — affirmance — Smith

A Pennsylvania township enacted an ordinance barring a gas company from using a well to store waste from fracking. When the gas company sued the township, four groups moved to intervene to help defend the statute. After their motion was denied on the theory that the township adequately represented the intervenors interests, the township repealed the ordinance and entered a consent decree. The would-be intervenors appealed, challenging the denial of intervention and the consent decree. The Third Circuit held that the denial of intervention was moot because there was no ordinance to defend and that, as non-parties, they could not appeal the consent decree.

Joining Smith were Jordan and Roth. Arguing counsel were Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin of Washington for the would-be intervenors, Stanley Yorsz of Buchanan Ingersoll for the gas company, and Arthur Martinucci of Quinn Buseck for the township.

Parks v. Tyson Foods — civil — affirmance — Jordan

The introduction:

This case concerns a trademark that once enjoyed widespread recognition but has since grown considerably weaker. Since the 1950s, Parks Sausage Company has manufactured or licensed sausage under the brand name “PARKS.”1 At one point, PARKS was placed on the Principal Register of trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), but, sometime in the early 2000s, Parks failed to renew the registration. In 2014, Tyson Foods, Inc. and Hillshire Brands Company (collectively, “Tyson”),2 the owners of the frankfurter brand BALL PARK, launched a premium frankfurter product called PARK’S FINEST. Parks sued, arguing that Tyson was engaged in false advertising and was infringing Parks’s trademark. The District Court determined that Parks’s claim for false advertising was really a repetition of its trademark claim, and that the PARKS mark was too weak to merit protection against Tyson’s use of the PARK’S FINEST name. We agree with the District Court and will affirm in all respects.

The highlight of the opinion surely is this footnote:

Though it may distress the cognoscenti, we use the terms “frankfurters,” “franks,” and “hot dogs,” as synonyms. Not so with the term “sausage,” which we use to denote something akin to but arguably different from hot dogs.

Joining Jordan were Smith and Roth. Arguing counsel were Jeffrey Lewis of Eckert Seamans for the appellant and John Dabney of D.C. for the appellees.