Interesting New Trademark / First Amendment Case from the Ninth Circuit:

E.S.S. Entertainment 2000 v. Rock Star Videos, which rejects a strip club's trademark claim based on the adaptation of its logo inside the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game. Seems to me quite the result, and good reasoning. I'd probably argue for providing an even broader First Amendment defense for the use of trademarks within expressive works (as opposed to on the advertising of the works, including their covers), but given the current state of the law, the decision seems to be very good.

On a less substantive note, here's a particularly amusing paragraph:

ESS also argues that, because players are free to ignore the storyline and spend as much time as they want at the Pig Pen, the Pig Pen can be considered a significant part of the Game, leading to confusion. But fans can spend all nine innings of a baseball game at the hot dog stand; that hardly makes Dodger Stadium a butcher's shop. In other words, the chance to attend a virtual strip club is unambiguously not the main selling point of the Game.

Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.