Olivia Clavio Discusses Key Trademark Ruling in Law360 Midyear Report

In a Law360 midyear report on the biggest trademark rulings of 2026, intellectual property counsel Olivia Clavio discussed the Seventh Circuit’s ruling that Little Caesars could use “pizza puff” to describe its Crazy Puffs products.

Clavio said the ruling reflects how the internet has changed the evidence available in genericness disputes, because courts and litigants can now look beyond traditional advertising to websites, social media and online marketplaces to assess how consumers encounter a term.

“So there's just more material out there to look over and scrutinize,” she said. “I think that creates a potential larger body of evidence to move a mark from what could have been a more distinctive mark to start to dilute it over time.”

That means owners of older marks, especially those with descriptive qualities, may need to pay closer attention to whether marketplace use is shifting a term from a brand identifier toward the name of a product category, Clavio added.