In a recent precedential cancellation decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) partially granted Respondent’s motion for summary judgment, holding that the parties’ stipulation that prior proceedings between...more
On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated a nearly $43 million award in a trademark dispute that raised the question of whether a defendant’s affiliates could be held liable for payment of a disgorged...more
2/28/2025
/ Affiliates ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Entities ,
Dewberry Group Inc v Dewberry Engineers Inc ,
Disgorgement ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Profits Interests ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
Vacated
Yesterday, in the first U.S. ruling on the closely scrutinized question of fair use in the AI-related copyright litigation context, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bilbas, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the District of...more
2/12/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Legal Technology ,
Machine Learning ,
Technology Sector
On January 23, 2023, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) issued a harsh reminder to parties of the potential adverse consequences of ignoring their discovery obligations and failing to comply with Board...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) reversed a TTAB decision affirming a refusal to register the phrase TRUMP TOO SMALL because it “comprises the name of [former] President Donald...more
On December 10, 2021, the TTAB issued a precedential decision reminding trademark practitioners and applicants that service mark use requires that an applicant actually render the services recited in the trademark...more
Today, the USPTO issued regulations implementing the provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”).
Practitioners should review the Regulations as soon as possible to familiarize themselves with the new...more
All TTAB practitioners are familiar with the heightened standard of proof required to prove fraud before the USPTO. However, many forget that proving an intent to deceive the USPTO, not the falsity of the statement or its...more
In a recent precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) cautioned practitioners to be careful what they ask for and to draft their filings accordingly.
On September 8, 2021, the TTAB denied...more
In a recent precedential decision, the TTAB again revisited the doctrines of claim and issue preclusion.
Valvoline Licensing & Intellectual Property LLC (“Valvoline”) opposed Sunpoint International Group USA Corp.’s...more
In a recent precedential decision, the TTAB confronted the issue of timeliness of discovery requests served in opposition and cancellation proceedings—namely, whether Eastern Standard Time (EST) controls the timeliness of...more
On May 20, 2021, the TTAB issued a lengthy and comprehensive precedential opinion canceling Proof Research, Inc.’s registration for the trade dress of a gun barrel (as shown below) on grounds of de jure functionality under...more
Yesterday, the USPTO issued an alert regarding emails that U.S. attorneys have been receiving from unlicensed persons offering to pay attorneys in exchange for use of the attorneys’ bar credentials in trademark filings. The...more
3/30/2021
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Client Services ,
Credentialing ,
Email ,
Rules of Professional Conduct ,
Solicitation ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Unauthorized Practice of Law ,
USPTO
On March 17, 2021, in a matter of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held a party appealing a decision of the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) may seek review of...more
On March 5, 2021, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) issued a precedential decision affirming refusal of SolarWindow Technologies, Inc.’s application to register the word mark POWERCOATINGS. The decision is a...more
Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 Signed Into Law-
On December 27, 2020, Congress signed the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which had rare bipartisan support, into law.
The Act makes substantive...more
On December 1, 2020, the TTAB continued its recent trend of decisions refusing to register marks on the ground of failure-to-function. In another precedential decision, the TTAB refused Applicant Lee Greenwood’s (“Greenwood”)...more
In a recent precedential decision, the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) affirmed an examining attorney’s failure-to-function refusal as respecting the standard character mark TEXAS LOVE, rejecting the...more
On October 27, 2020, the Federal Circuit affirmed a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) decision canceling Corcamore, LLC’s registration for the mark SPROUT. More specifically, the Federal Circuit concluded that...more
On September 25, 2020, the TTAB issued a non-precedential decision summarily rejecting an applicant’s attack against an examining attorney’s refusal to register the mark NATURAL LEAF CBD LIVE BETTER NATURALLY & Design for use...more
For years, scam artists have targeted trademark owners with communications that mimic notices from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or other governmental entities.
Unfortunately, there is no end in...more
In the recent decision In re Hop Daddy LLC (Serial No. 88175921), the TTAB reexamined the contours of the doctrine of foreign equivalents.
The USPTO refused Hop Daddy’s application to register the mark SALTY BULL BREWING &...more
On August 5, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB’s decision to cancel a trademark registration for the mark HOLLYWOOD BEER as a discovery sanction for the registrant’s repeated,...more
On July 28, 2020, the TTAB issued a precedential decision regarding an underutilized method for responding to summary judgment motions filed before the non-moving party has had a reasonable opportunity to obtain relevant...more
On July 30, 2020, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a precedential decision holding, in effect, that the mark GUARANTEED RATE is too common for registration in the absence of a consumer survey showing...more