Every month, Erise’s trademark attorneys review the latest developments at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the courts, and across the corporate world to bring you the stories that you should know about: Fruity...more
In recent years, global economic and cultural exchanges have become more and more frequent, and both overseas multinational companies and Chinese trends enterprises have invariably chosen alphabetic trademarks, using in...more
By now, news has broken about The Ohio State University and its official registration of a trademark for the word “THE”. This comes after a nearly three-year battle to clinch legal branding access to a word that’s deeply...more
The typical crack and fizz sound that occurs when opening a carbonated beverage is not registrable as a sound mark as it lacks any distinctive character. This was decided by the General Court of the European Union (GC) in a...more
There were many interesting trademark cases coming out of 2018, a few of which are discussed below. The scope of Canada’s anti-dilution remedy (section 22 of the Trademarks Act) is not limited to a defendant’s use of a...more
Andy Warhol once famously commented that “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” For trademarks, fifteen minutes of fame is not sufficient to assert a trademark dilution claim. ...more
Royal Crown Co., Inc. v. The Coca-Cola Co., 2018 WL 3040163 (Fed. Cir. June 20, 2018) - In late June, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in the year-long litigation between Royal Crown Co., Inc. (“RC”) and The...more
In this EUTM case the General Court (GC) decided for The Polo/Lauren Company LP, concluding that alleged weak distinctive character of the earlier mark in regard to certain goods was amply compensated by the enhanced...more
Surname Not Registrable Absent Substantially Exclusive Use - As a result of various third-party uses of the surname “Ayoub” for similar services, Applicant’s use of AYOUB did not meet the requirement of Section (f) that...more
Broad JAWS Registration Devours JAWS Cooking Channel - Mr. Recipe’s applications to register the marks JAWS and JAWS DEVOUR YOUR HUNGER were refused based on the earlier registration for JAWS, the movie. Mr. Recipe’s...more
Three-dimensional trademarks have given rise to some interesting European Community decisions in the last several months (see, for example, our comments on the Kit Kat and Lego decisions). A decision rendered last week by the...more
Business enterprises often prefer to adopt trademarks that describe the company’s goods or services because they require less of an investment to develop the brand and educate the target consumer. This is in contrast to...more
The story begins in the UK in 1935, when a worker at Rowntree’s York factory put an idea in the suggestion box for a snack that “a man could take to work in his pack.” This idea ?led to the famous four-finger Kit Kat...more