News & Analysis as of

Lanham Act Intellectual Property Protection Appeals

Jones Day

Gloves Off: Court Says No to Green Trademark Protection

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the test for determining whether a word mark is generic also applies to color marks....more

Fish & Richardson

Federal Circuit Finds Beer Trademark Application Nothing but "Chicken Scratch"

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In yet another recent example of the need for care in establishing a full record when appealing the denial of a trademark application, on April 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the denial of...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Opposers Beware: Your Own Mark May Not Be Protectable

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s dismissal of an opposition to the registration of the marks IVOTERS and IVOTERS.COM while also noting that the US Patent &...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Zone of Natural Expansion Is a Shield, Not a Sword

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Trademark Trial & Appeal Board decision to partially cancel trademarks, ruling that an opposition challenger could not use the zone of natural expansion doctrine to...more

Ladas & Parry LLP

TTAB Sustains Opposition Based on Reputation Without Use in the United States

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TTAB sustains opposition based on reputation without use in the United States - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Legal updates: case law analysis and intelligence - The opponent, owner of Venezuelan company La Montserratina,...more

McDermott Will & Emery

No Bull: Historically Generic Term Can Become Non-Generic

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Trademark Trial & Appeal Board rulings, finding that a previously generic term was not generic at the time registration was sought because at that time the mark, as...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Successful Trademark Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Profits From Named Defendants’...

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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

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Supreme Court Overturns Nearly $43 Million Trademark Infringement Award Based on Section 35 of the Lanham Act

The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in the Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. case was released Wednesday. In a unanimous opinion, the Court found that Section 35 of the Lanham Act, which provides that a plaintiff...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Trade Dress Requires Separate Articulation and Distinctiveness Requirements

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The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a complaint for trade dress infringement and unfair competition, finding that the district court erred in requiring the...more

Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, P.C.

Reviewing 2024's AI Patent And Copyright Developments

Artificial intelligence dominated this year's emerging technology updates from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office. These agencies, among many others, were kept quite busy under the directives...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Case Closed: OpenAI Prevails on Secondary Meaning

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction (PI) in a trademark action under the Lanham Act, stating that the district court’s ruling was not clearly erroneous...more

McDermott Will & Emery

What a Croc! False Claim That Product Feature Is Patented Can Give Rise to Lanham Act Violation

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a grant of summary judgment on a false advertising claim, concluding that a cause of action under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act can arise when a party...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Chickening Out: Reason for Trademark Abandonment Irrelevant Without Proof of Intent to Resume

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The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment decision finding that the prior owner of a trademark for fresh chicken had abandoned the mark by failing to use it for three years and...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Dolly Pardon: American Girl Can Sue Foreign Counterfeiter for Internet Sales

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The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit clarified its standards for establishing personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants that conduct business over the internet. American Girl, LLC v. Zembrka, DBA...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Smart Choice: Survey Design Didn’t Render Survey Unreliable

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Underscoring its faith in a jury’s competency to use its “common sense and experience” in evaluating evidence, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s judgment in favor of the defendants in a...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Rum Wars: Lanham Act Doesn’t Preclude Judicial Review of PTO Renewal Decisions

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The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s ruling, holding that the Lanham Act does not foreclose an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) action for judicial review of the US Patent...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Sour Grapes: Winery Minority Ownership Insufficient for Statutory Standing at Trademark Board

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a petition seeking to cancel the registered marks of two wineries, finding the petitioner (a trust owning an interest in a competitor winery) lacked...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Make Sure You Behave and Keep Those Hands Clean: How Deceit and Bad Table Manners Can Bite

Last week in Luv n’ Care, Ltd. v. Laurain, the Federal Circuit put the lower court in time out and probably made Eazy-PZ, LLC (EZPZ) cry just a little bit harder. In this precedential decision involving U.S. Patent No....more

McDermott Will & Emery

ITU Applicants Beware: Federal Courts Have Jurisdiction Over Pending Trademark Applications

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part a district court’s ruling in a trademark dispute, upholding its decision to invalidate trademark applications. The Ninth Circuit held that district courts have...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

What’s in a Name? Too Much to Trademark According to the USPTO

With the U.S. Supreme Court beginning a new session, many are wondering what new issues the Court will address this term. One case the Court is scheduled to hear involves the relationship between the Lanham Act and First...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

MarkIt to Market® - October 2023: A Limit to Cancel Culture? Federal Circuit Finds Fraud in Connection with Section 15 Declaration...

In 2021, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board cancelled Great Concepts, LLC’s trademark registration for the mark DANTANNA’S for restaurant services under Section 14, after finding that counsel for the Registrant committed...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Back to the Future: Prior Third-Party Settlement Doesn’t Impact Future Trademark Licensees

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that under certain circumstances a trademark licensee can bring a claim against a third party for unfair competition under the Lanham Act even if the licensing agreement...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Disgorgement of Profits Appropriate Remedy for Breach of Contract, Trademark Infringement

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In a trademark infringement and breach of contract case involving real estate companies with a shared name, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the trademark owner, including...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Courts and Brand Owners Struggling With SCOTUS Decision Limiting Ability to Police Against Foreign Trademark Infringement

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s end-of-term decision in Abitron v. Hetronic seems to have created more questions than answers about U.S. brand owners’ ability to leverage the federal Lanham Act in global trademark disputes. In the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Burst That Bubble: Specific Knowledge Necessary to Prove Contributory Trademark Infringement

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed contributory trademark infringement for the first time, finding that specific knowledge is required for liability to attach. Y.Y.G.M. SA, DBA Brandy Melville v....more

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