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Springboards to Education, Inc. v. IDEA Public Schools

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 21-40334 · judgment March 8, 2023


Certiorari denied · October 2, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 9% cert probability (95% interval 6%–12%)

Before the decision, about 2.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

This petition presents a case of trademark infringement dismissed by the District Court and upheld by the Fifth Circuit on unadvocated grounds. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether the legal reasoning used to evaluate the issue of trademark infringement was subjective, incomplete, and failed to address the record and the legal standards.

  2. Whether the Fifth Circuit used the incorrect legal standard for a consumer, which was overly narrow and inconsistent with judgments from other circuits. See Springboards to Educ., Inc. v. IDEA Publ. Sch., No. 21-40334 (5th Cir. Mar. 8, 2023) at

  3. In six other circuits, case law does not limit the definition of a consumer to whom the likelihood of confusion analysis is applied to although two circuits have misapplied limiting language in opinions, as detailed in the petition.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Valerie Ann Yanaros
Yanaros Law, P.C.

For respondent
Joseph Emil Hoffer
Schulman, Lopez, Hoffer & Adelstein, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 02 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 09 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/26/2023.
  3. Aug 02 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent IDEA Public Schools to respond filed.
  4. Jun 05 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 4, 2023)