Trademark

08May 2025

Are Phantom Trademarks Real?

May 8, 2025 Trademark
Legal concept of phantom trademarks rejected by USPTO due to missing trademark elements

What in the world are “phantom” trademarks? This was a new topic for us, although we had written about so-called “submarine” trademarks several years ago.  Phantom vs. Submarine Trademarks: What’s the Difference? Filing a submarine trademark is a strategy aimed at maintaining a veil of secrecy over a company’s marketing plans by filing in a […]

10Apr 2025

Consumer Confusion and Trademark

April 10, 2025 Trademark
Consumer Confusion

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. — Anonymous And so begins our trademark tale at the site of the 1892 notorious ax murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden’s daughter, was accused of murdering her father […]

13Mar 2025

Use in Commerce: Don’t Be Defensive

March 13, 2025 Trademark
trademark use in commerce

The United States trademark system is a “use” based system.  Using your trademark bestows upon you the benefits of trademark ownership whether you register your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) or not. If you don’t register it, you still have trademark rights but only for your particular goods and services […]

13Feb 2025

An “UGG”ly Trademark Dispute

February 13, 2025 Trademark
UGG trademark dispute

There isn’t a singular, unified “international trademark system” in the sense of a global organization that governs trademarks worldwide. There are, however, international frameworks and treaties that facilitate trademark protection enforcement across multiple jurisdictions. There is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Madrid System, and various regional trademark systems such as the European Union […]

09Jan 2025

The Power of Nostalgia Marketing

January 9, 2025 Trademark
nostalgia marketing

Strong brands are designed to evoke emotional connections between brand and consumer.  That’s why brand owners are eager to leverage “nostalgia,” a sentimental longing for the past, to create deep and more meaningful relationships with their audience. Nostalgia marketing is very powerful. It can evoke emotions, trust and loyalty by “tapping into the positive memories and […]

05Dec 2024

Barbie Loves Barbecue – Who Knew?

December 5, 2024 Trademark
Amanda's Barbeque

Trademark lawyers are not branding or marketing consultants. But that is not to say that trademark lawyers should not be involved in the branding and marketing process. Indeed, whether clients are big or small, embarking on a branding strategy that may cause confusion in the marketplace is a waste of resources and could potentially lead […]

14Nov 2024

Keyword Infringement – Is it Possible?

November 14, 2024 Internet Law, 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 […]

03Oct 2024

Abandonment … How Does It Happen?

October 3, 2024 Trademark
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 […]

22Aug 2024

Ask Dr. Copyright® About Coffee

August 22, 2024 Ask Dr. Copyright, 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 […]

01Aug 2024

Marketing the Olympics – Stay Out of Trouble

August 1, 2024 Trademark
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 […]

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