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
On June 21, 2022, The Ohio State University (OSU) obtained a federal trademark registration (U.S. Reg. No. 6,763,118) for the standard character mark THE for “t-shirts, baseball caps, and hats; all of the foregoing being...more
Consent agreements - in which a prior U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rights-holder provides consent to registration of a later-filed trademark - can be an efficient path to registration in situations where the...more
In a decision bound to impact trademark prosecution practice in the future, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) recently found that a consent agreement between a...more
The August issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to MarketTM newsletter discusses consent agreements and how to avoid naked consent, suggests 5 steps for protecting shrinking trademarks, and provides an updated list of the Sunrise...more