The Ninth Circuit issued two opinions in BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP v. Central Coast Agriculture, Inc. finding judicial power over pending trademark applications and an exception shielding trademark registrations for marks used...more
6/11/2024
/ Brand ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Counterclaims ,
Judicial Review ,
Lanham Act ,
Tobacco ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Cancellation ,
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
USPTO
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vidal v. Elster this week, which asks whether refusing to register a trademark that criticizes President Trump violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It seems the...more
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and will review the Federal Circuit’s opinion that Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional as applied to a trademark for the term TRUMP TOO SMALL. The TRUMP TOO SMALL trademark...more
During the 2016 presidential primaries, then presidential candidates Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio exchanged insults, with Trump calling Rubio “Little Marco” and Rubio commenting on the size of Trumps hands.
Recently,...more
4/21/2022
/ Donald Trump ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Name and Likeness ,
Public Figures ,
Right of Publicity ,
Right to Privacy ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an Australian cosmetic company is subject to the personal jurisdiction of a federal district court in California despite having no traditional “minimum...more
9/10/2021
/ Appeals ,
Australia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Due Process ,
Facebook ,
False Designation of Origin ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Foreign Entities ,
Instagram ,
Internet Marketing ,
Marketing ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Reversal ,
Social Networks ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
Websites
In December 2020, Taylor Swift released her ninth studio album, Evermore. The album came as somewhat of a surprise, following the release of her eighth album, Folklore, by only 5 months. Evermore sold over 1 million copies in...more
In 2005, Christian Faith Fellowship Church, a Chicago-based church group, filed two trademark applications for the mark ADD A ZERO for use on clothing, including shirts and caps that they later sold to raise money for...more
11/22/2019
/ Abandonment ,
Adidas ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Cancellation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Use in Commerce
Two recent decisions from the Western District of North Carolina in Winestore Holdings LLC v. Justin Vineyards & Winery LLC provide a tasting of the requirements for bringing a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement...more
In 2016, SportFuel sued PepsiCo for using their registered trademark “SPORTFUEL” in a slogan used to advertise Gatorade products. SportFuel is a personalized nutrition consulting firm in Chicago. ...more