The United States is a party to the Madrid Protocol, an international treaty simplifying and centralizing the process for registering trademarks on an international basis. This treaty allows owners of U.S. trademark...more
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently published its annual Madrid Yearly Review, offering a comprehensive overview of the facts, figures, and analyses of the international registration of marks....more
The blog post, “What are the Types of Trademarks,” explained the distinction between Trademarks, Service Marks, State Marks, Federal Marks, and Common Law Marks, which are common types of protection for marks in the United...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a bulletin on the New Madrid Protocol webpages for international trademark applicants (govdelivery.com). Specifically, the USPTO explains that its website...more
This webinar will highlight Canada-specific issues for those pursuing Canadian designations of international registrations. Our speakers will outline surprising challenges and unexpected issues that can arise with the...more
While the United States Patent & Trademark office is experiencing an inordinately long backlog, U.S. companies seeking to protect their marks internationally are feeling the impact of the extended wait time, and particularly...more
My previous blog post, “What are the Types of Trademarks,” explained the distinction between Trademarks, Service Marks, State Marks, Federal Marks, and Common Law Marks, which are common types of protection for marks in the...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has updated the deadline to respond to Office Actions for trademark applications. As of December 3, 2022, trademark applicants now have three months (instead of the...more
The Republic of Chile joined the Madrid Protocol on July 4, 2022, making it the 111th member of the Madrid System. The country is the latest in Latin America to accede to the multinational trademark registration system,...more
The general rule under U.S. trademark law is that the first to use a trademark in U.S. commerce has priority in the mark over other "would-be" users of the same, or confusingly similar, mark. This applies in both common law...more
In an interesting twist, the Ninth Circuit granted summary judgment to a defendant in a trademark infringement case in Lodestar v. Bacardi on April 21, 2022. Given the Ninth Circuit’s common refrain that “summary judgment is...more
Addressing for the first time the question of enforceability of a priority of right in a trademark granted pursuant to the Madrid Protocol where the registrant’s actual use in commerce began after the allegedly infringing...more
In the latest expansion of the Madrid System, the United Arab Emirates will join the Madrid Protocol on December 28, 2021. The UAE is the third country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (along with Bahrain and Oman) to join the...more
Attention trademark practitioners: the finalized rules implementing the 2020 Trademark Modernization Act (“TMA”) go into effect this weekend, on December 18, 2021. Significantly, this marks the availability of three new...more
Until just a few years ago, most Canadian brand owners doing business abroad had limited options for protecting their trademarks outside of Canada. They were obliged to file separate applications in each country of interest,...more
Canada has established itself as an attractive jurisdiction in which to do business. It has a stable economy, a high-income population, a business-friendly environment and has long led the G7 in growth. It also has especially...more
As previously reported, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) began an initiative to accept telephone amendments for simple prosecution issues in May 2020. Considering the initiative’s success in helping CIPO...more
The European Union (“EU”) has shaped and developed Intellectual property (“IP”) policy extensively over the years. IP law in EU member states is today largely a matter of EU law. Key areas of IP are dominated by EU rights and...more
Nowadays, the concept of business can rarely prescind from globalization. But the rules and regulations that provide Intellectual Property protection have not always been able to keep up with the internationalization of...more
It is time. Trademarks off-world have been debated for decades, but nothing has yet been done, despite humans being in space for 63 years. However, with multiple countries now traveling into outer space, and ‘low Earth...more