Trademark

contact lens

This month we’re going to take a look at something really practical: keyword advertising. Keyword advertising is a digital marketing strategy where businesses target specific words or phrases—keywords—relevant to their products or services. The goal is to have advertisements appear in search engine results or on websites when someone searches for or reads content containing […]

consequence of abandonment

Over the years, we have written about many trademark-related concepts and many times we have referenced the consequence of “abandonment,” referring to the penalty that a trademark owner may suffer for not adhering to trademark formalities. But what does it mean for a trademark to go abandoned and under what circumstances does it occur? What Causes Trademark […]

Kona Coffee

Dear Doc: I understand that under United States Trademark Law, you can’t register marks that are “primarily geographically descriptive” as you can in other countries, but you may register “geographic indications” as certification or collective marks. For example, in France, champagne has to actually come from Champagne and Roquefort has to come from Roquefort. The […]

Olympics copyrights

The Olympic Rings The modern Olympics is replete with symbols, many of which are wrongly ascribed to the ancient games. The most obvious is the five interlocking Olympic rings, which were “invented” in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, then-President of the International Olympic Committee. Some authors have ascribed the rings to an ancient inscription on […]

Chili Crunch

Policing trademarks is as important as registering them.  Policing requires that you monitor the world of commerce to ensure that others are not using your marks — or confusingly similar marks — and, if so, that you take immediate action against the infringers. There is little point in owning a trademark if you are willing to […]

TM is for Trademarks

In our experience, trademark applicants are often confused about the specimen requirements submitted with a trademark application involving goods (as opposed to services).  The specimen is used to prove “use in commerce.” Use in commerce under the Lanham Act is deemed to be when the mark is “placed in any manner on the goods or […]

Policing your trademarks is as important as registering them.  Policing requires that the trademark and other rights owners monitor the world of commerce to ensure that others are not stealing their intellectual property and, if so, take immediate action against infringers.  Many corporations zealously defend their trademark portfolios. Here’s but one example. In a recent article at Wired.com, The […]

It is surprising how many trademark applicants file their applications without having performed a search to see whether their proposed trademark is even registrable. If you fall into this category, here is some guidance. Once you have created a list of potential trademarks, you have to ensure that no one else has registered the mark […]

halloween costumes

As the days grow shorter, it seems that the shorter people  (we call them “kids”) start to want costumes and large bags the size of small dump trucks into which kindly neighbors intent on supporting the local dental association will deposit “treats.”  You may have noticed that some costumes (for example, independent small-business marine entrepreneurs, […]

Remember NFTs (“Non-Fungible Tokens”)? As a reminder, an NFT is a type of digital asset that represents ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content, such as artwork, music, videos, or collectibles, using blockchain technology. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs […]