As any good trademark practitioner knows, a “naked” consent agreement is one in which one party provides consent to the registration of another party’s mark without an explanation of why confusion is unlikely, or what the...more
Thank you for reading the December 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the USPTO's new guidance on "clothed" consent agreements, three ways to protect your identify and avoid...more
12/22/2023
/ Consent Agreements ,
Goods or Services ,
IP Assignment Agreements ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Risk Management ,
Spam ,
Spoofing ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
One of the signs of a healthy trademark is a certain level of distinctiveness. Distinctiveness is related to consumers’ love and recognition of a mark as an indicator of a product’s source, such that consumers trust the mark...more
8/1/2023
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Brand ,
Corporate Branding ,
Generic Marks ,
Genericide ,
Goods or Services ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Ownership ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Thank you for reading the July 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we continue our three-part series that closely examines ways to lose trademark rights with a discussion of genericide. We...more
8/1/2023
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Advertising ,
Brand ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Corporate Branding ,
Counterfeiting ,
Data Collection ,
Disclosure ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Generic Marks ,
Genericide ,
Goods or Services ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lanham Act ,
Listing Rules ,
Marketing ,
Online Marketplace ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sellers ,
Third-Party ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Ownership ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
USPTO
In a precedential decision earlier this month, the TTAB found that a disclaimer of a term is required as to all services in a Class if it is descriptive as to any services in that Class. This decision appears to contravene...more
In a recent precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed that the mark SEQUENCING BY BINDING is merely descriptive of goods and services in Classes 1, 9, 10, and 42 related to biological analytes...more
1/6/2020
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Biologics ,
Descriptive Trademarks ,
Examination Procedures ,
Goods or Services ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Filings ,
Patents ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Trade Dress ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Utility Patents
When it comes to proving use of marks in commerce, perception by consumers is everything. If consumers perceive a mark as identifying only a particular component or feature of the goods in a specimen, the PTO will likely...more