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Why SCOTUS is considering a case about dog-toy poop jokes · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, March 23rd. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, why dog toys and poop jokes are being scrutinized by the Supreme Court, it's Sweet Sixteen time in the NCAA tournament, and why ugly shoes are taking over runways and saving America's feet.
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  But first, let's briefly touch on a couple of major stories that we're watching today, starting with former President Trump. We're waiting for news out of the Manhattan DA's office about the hush-money case and whether an indictment could be coming.
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  But in the meantime, there's been a flurry of activity in a separate investigation related to the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Yesterday, a federal appeals court ordered one of Trump's attorneys, Evan Corcoran, to appear before a grand jury to testify and turn over documents related to the criminal investigation. This comes after Trump's lawyers tried to block Corcoran from having to testify, citing attorney-client privilege. That testimony could happen as early as Friday.
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  In other news, the United Nations met for its first conference on global water security in almost 50 years. It led to this very memorable quote from U.N. Secretary General António Guterres.
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  António Guterres: Water is in deep trouble. We are draining humanity's lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use and evaporating it through global heating.
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  That's how he put it, a "vampiric overconsumption" of water. The U.N. is warning that, already, a quarter of the world's population relies on water that's not safe to drink. And the international community needs to cooperate to avoid conflicts over water in the future.
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  And lastly, we're keeping our eyes on California weather. The region is still being pummeled with rain and wind and, in some parts of Southern California, tornadoes. The National Weather Service says a two- to three-minute twister just east of Los Angeles was responsible for damaging dozens of structures, ripping off roofs and injuring several people. And in parts of the Bay Area and Central Valley, rain and winds led to at least five deaths, power outages and dangerous flooding. You can watch along with us for any developments in these stories on the Apple News app.
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  This Supreme Court term has been full of big, consequential issues. But yesterday, the justices couldn't help but laugh at what they were hearing.
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  Lawyer: This case involves a dog toy that copies Jack Daniel's trademark and trade dress and associates its whiskey with dog poop.
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  Yep, you heard that right. The highest court in the land is considering a case about dog toys. And while oral arguments definitely had some goofy moments, the bedrock of this case is pretty serious. At its core, it's about pitting federal trademark law against free speech. That is, which argument is stronger: Jack Daniel's right to protect its trademark versus the dog toy company's right to spoof the Jack Daniel's design under artistic expression. "Vox" has a nice explanation of what's being argued by both sides.
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  Let's start with Jack Daniel's. It's asking the Supreme Court to block VIP Products, which is the second-largest maker of dog toys in the country, from selling a toy that it argues infringes on its signature, trademarked bottle shape and label. Now, you gotta see this toy for yourself. It's a classic squeaky, and it looks a whole lot like a bottle of Jack. Instead of "Jack Daniel's" on the label, it says "Bad Spaniels." And here's the toilet humor. The toy version says, "The Old No. 2 on your Tennessee carpet," which is a nod to the Jack Daniel's "Old No. 7" brand.
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  Now, Jack Daniel's says it appreciates a good joke as much as the next person, but that last part takes it a step too far. It doesn't want customers associating its whiskey with dog poop. And it says trademark law gives it the right to protect its brand from being tarnished like this.
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  Here's what the free speech argument says about this. Clearly, there are so many spoofs and parodies out there that are allowed. What the toy company is arguing here is, this toy is obviously a gag, and no one's going to actually confuse a squeaky toy with a real bottle of booze. Therefore, it doesn't seriously harm the real brand.
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  The United States has a long history of protecting both trademark rights and free speech, maintaining a balance. The only reason this case made it to the Supreme Court is because Jack Daniel's didn't like a lower court's decision and appealed it after it used a really broad interpretation of the First Amendment. Now, it's up to the Supreme Court to decide whether that balance should get tweaked for the future.
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  The Sweet 16 round of March Madness kicks off for men tonight, women tomorrow. And major congratulations to you if your brackets are even remotely still in contention to win your pools. I'll just mention that whimsical bracket advice that we shared last week from "The Wall Street Journal" that statistically teams with blue jerseys do well. That's turning out to be true so far!
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  We turned to "Apple News" sports editor Shaker Samman, who's been watching the games and says this year's been all about the upsets.
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  Shaker Samman: It's left us with a really interesting Sweet 16 and Elite Eight kind of route, right? Like, in the East region in the men's side, Kansas State, Michigan State, FAU and Tennessee are the four teams left. If you had, in your bracket, one of those four teams making the Final Four a week ago, we would've called you an oracle.
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  Samman: On the women's side, you saw two number one seeds in Stanford and Indiana get booted. The defending champ, South Carolina, still looking really strong. And also, you know, we can't count out those UConn Huskies who have just been there for as long as we can remember, dominating the sport.
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  The teams to beat in the men's tournament? Alabama and Houston, both number one seeds.
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  Samman: I'm really eyeing in on the west region. For a long time, people had circled a potential UConn-Kansas Sweet 16 game as a potential decider for who makes the Final Four in that region. And now that Kansas is gone, UConn is sitting there looking really frisky. On the other side of that region, Gonzaga and UCLA, two teams that are not afraid of what this tournament means and what you have to do to keep advancing. This is one of the most wide-open tournaments I can remember.
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  And fans can't seem to get enough of the women's tournament this year. Viewership was up nearly 30% during the first round compared to last year, fueled by big names and big twists.
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  Samman: I think the big question for the rest of this tournament is: Can anyone stop South Carolina from repeating? With Aaliyah Boston, they've looked so spectacular. And there's talent across the field. You know, Iowa's Caitlin Clark, LSU's Angel Reese. There are really exciting players here. But the question really is: Can anyone slow down South Carolina?
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  For a lot of people, your 30s are the first time you start cracking jokes about aches and pains, mostly because you can't believe you're already getting aches and pains. This next story goes out to all the millennials who are secretly psyched that even though our backs ache and our feet hurt, we still get to look cool because the fashion world is still in love with cushy, ugly, orthopedic-approved shoes.
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  This perspective comes from "The Atlantic's" Amanda Mull, who often writes about millennials and consumerism. And the way that she puts it is, cool people are accidentally saving America's feet with cushion-y shoes.
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  You know the kinds of shoes I'm talking about: big, puffy HOKAs, chunky New Balances, sneakers that used to be made fun of as "dad shoes." Mull writes, the mid-2010s were a pivotal moment. Skinny jeans and Adidas Stan Smiths were starting to fade. Younger people started embracing "norm core," which is a style that's probably best described by everyone on "Seinfeld." And with all of that, bulky shoes came back in style. One fashion expert describes it as a "trickle-up" effect that made its way to high-end brands like Balenciaga and Dior.
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  A podiatrist is actually quoted in this piece saying, thanks to the trend, it's been easier to sell patients on shoes that are better for their feet now. And millennials kind of have themselves to thank. After popularizing chunky sneakers in our younger years, it's now paying off for our older knees and feet.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening to us in the News app right now, stick around.
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  We've got a narrated article queued up for you from "Bloomberg," all about TikTok's fight to avoid getting banned in the U.S. Thought you might like to listen to that, given that TikTok's CEO is scheduled to testify before Congress for the first time today.
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  That's queued up for you next. I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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