Deere & Company v. MTD Products, Inc.

41 F.3d 39 (1994)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
D
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Deere & Company v. MTD Products, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
41 F.3d 39 (1994)

Facts

Deere & Company (Deere) (plaintiff), a supplier of agricultural equipment, trademarked its logo. The Deere logo depicted a deer and was used on its various products. MTD Products, Inc. (MTD) (defendant) manufactured and sold lawn tractors. MTD’s advertising agency wanted to produce an advertisement comparing the two companies’ tractors. MTD used the Deere logo, but changed the proportions of the deer and removed the name “John Deere” from the logo. In the advertisement, the deer in the logo was also animated so that it would run from an MTD tractor. Deere sued MTD for trademark dilution and filed for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to prevent the airing of the commercial. The district court denied the temporary restraining order but granted the preliminary injunction within the state of New York. MTD appealed the court’s decision on the dilution claim, and Deere appealed the court’s decision that restricted the injunction to New York.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Newman, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Trademark

Key Terms