Tangible or Intangible? This is actually an interesting question. If you erect a sign displaying a trademark over a store, isn’t that a tangible representation of a trademark? Of course it is. On the other hand, if you were to license your trademark for use by another company, you don’t transfer a physical representation of […]
Trademark
Candy Bars Make Trademark News Yet Again
August 9, 2018
Trademark
In 2013, we wrote about the branding wars between candy bar makers. These disputes are good measure of the boundaries between 3-D trademarks that have acquired distinctiveness (registrable) and those that are functional (not registrable). In 2006, Nestlé was granted trademark rights in the “distinctive” shape of its KitKat bar in various European countries. But […]
Registering an Iconic Smell The distinctive smell of Play-Doh evokes memories of many happy hours of childhood play, those of my children and mine. Perhaps, if you played with the colored “doh,” you probably share similar nostalgia. Hasbro has been making Play-Doh since the 1950’s and its distinct odor is not natural but a fragrance […]
Marijuana Madness
February 8, 2018
Trademark
Marijuana has become big business. We never thought it would happen but now 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana and eight states have legalized pot for recreational use. But alas, federal law, still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act meaning that cannabis […]
Ask Dr. Copyright – Emerging New PTO Standards
January 11, 2018
Ask Dr. Copyright, Trademark
Dear Doc: Last I heard, “Slants”, a term some Asians apparently find offensive was deemed to be a registrable trademark by the United States Supreme Court because they think that free speech under the First Amendment protects all sorts of offensive speech (but not the giant Ten Commandments that was put up at at the […]
How to Pick a Trademark that Won’t be Rejected by the USPTO At Lipton, Weinberger & Husick, we spend a lot of time reviewing office actions issued to clients who filed trademarks on their own or with a trademark service like LegalZoom or Trademarkia. Registration services provide only the bare essentials when it comes to […]
The Washington Redskins NFL team has been fighting for years to maintain its registered trademarks containing the term REDSKINS. Its on and off again fight has been hotly debated in public, press and the courts. Finally, the United States Supreme Court has weighed in. Funny enough, the case before them was not that of the Redskins but […]
Is Google Guilty of “Genericide”?
June 9, 2017
Intellectual Property, Trademark
Is Google Guilty of “Genericide”? Mr. Chris Gillespie must have thought he had a brilliant idea when he registered multiple domain names that included the term “Google,” such as “googledisney.com,” “googleBarackObama.net,” “Googlenewtvs.com” and others. Did he truly believe that Google would not sue him? Or was this part of a grander scheme? Think about the […]
Late Breaking News: Ghostbusters Prevails Over Day of the Dead After Initial Defeat If you’re a vodka connoisseur, you probably know that Dan Aykroyd of Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers, and Ghostbusters fame partnered with another artist and Globefill, Inc. to manufacture and market vodka packaged in a skull shaped bottle and labeled as Crystal […]
Trademark owners have a duty to defend their trademarks against possible and actual infringement. Ignore infringers and your trademark rights may evaporate. Defending trademarks, however, is a full time job and not for the weak of heart (or wallet). The beverage industry is a breeding ground of intellectual property disputes and trademark owners aggressively defend […]