Anybody who has tried will agree that choosing a trademark for your product or service isn’t easy. Yes, you have to choose the right mark but then you have to make sure that nobody else has made the same (or similar) choice. More often than not, you discover truth in the adage that there’s no […]
Trademark
Trademark law is deceptively simple, but there are traps for the unwary. One of those traps is the doctrine of “related products“. Here’s how this works. Let’s say you have chosen what you believe to be a distinctive trademark for fruit juice. Let’s call it AWESOME BEV. So, you properly performed a trademark clearance search. You find that no one […]
Breaking News: Trademark Issued for the Word “THE”
July 14, 2022
Trademark
Copyright consists of a bundle of rights, and the Copyright Act itself defines a “Copyright Owner” as the owner of “particular right.” (§ 101). In this sense, “copyright” is a noun, used to identify a right of ownership; it is not a verb. A trademark, on the other hand, is not a noun, nor a […]
New technologies give rise to new intellectual property headaches. Non-fungible tokens or NFT’s are no exception. What is an NFT? For the uninitiated (and hermits), an NFT is a unique digital token that one can own, sell, or redeem. Bitcoin and Ethereum are examples of digital tokens. Cryptocurrency, however, is fungible. The Bitcoin I own is not unique […]
When is a Chair just a Chair?
December 9, 2021
Trademark
When is a chair just a chair (and not a trademark)? The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board” or “TTAB”) recently considered this question in an opinion on whether Herman Miller, Inc. (“Herman Miller”) could claim trademark rights in a famous chair design dating back from the 1940s when Charles and Ray Eames developed a technique for molding […]
How Do I Register My Trademark in a Foreign Country? Part II
November 4, 2021
Trademark
The WIPO website devotes a whole page to the “benefits of the Madrid System”. From it, you can glean four principal advantages: (1) it is equitable, that is, it is available to “small startups” or “large multinational” organizations alike; (2) it is convenient; (3) it is global in reach; and (4) it is cost effective. Let’s examine each […]
How Do I Register My Trademark in a Foreign Country? Part I
October 7, 2021
Trademark
National Filing. The first method consists of directly filing a trademark application in the foreign country. This is commonly referred to as a “National Filing.” Typically, your US attorney will retain a trademark attorney in the country where you wish to register your trademark. You provide the foreign attorney with a power of attorney and […]
On July 13, 2020, the era of the NFL’s Washington Redskins ended (following pressure from the public and from corporate sponsors) and a new era began. Unfortunately, it was – and remains – an unnamed era. The team is currently called “The Washington Football Team” – it’s better than “The Washington Insert Name Here” but […]
In its 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the United States Trade Representative warns: “Commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting cause significant financial losses for U.S. right holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and pose significant risks to consumer health and safety.” […]
2021 Brings New Trademark Fees
January 14, 2021
Trademark
2021 brings new trademark fees. The PTO states: “The overall strategy of the Final Rule is to balance a reasonable and affordable fee schedule with sufficient multi-year revenue to recover the aggregate costs of maintaining the USPTO’s trademark-related operations and accomplishing the USPTO’s trademark-related strategic goals. The Final Rule enables the USPTO to continue to enhance […]