Podcast: The Briefing by the IP Law Blog - Prince Estate Wants Winery's 'Purple Rain' Trademark Back in the Bottle
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Prince Estate Wants Winery's 'Purple Rain' Trademark Back in the Bottle
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Trending Now: An IP Podcast - False and Misleading Advertising, Label Review
Yesterday, in Vidal v. Elster, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 2(c) of the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C. § 1052(c)), which prohibits registration of a mark that “[c]onsists of or...more
Joining a series of precedential decisions about descriptiveness, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently affirmed a refusal to register Sheet Pile, LLC’s (“Applicant”) mark ZPILE on the Principal Register, on the...more
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has reiterated that there is no “strict or bright-line rule against registration of characters.” The case is In re Joseph A. Stallard, 2023 USPQ2d 1009 (TTAB 2023)....more
In business, trademarks are everything. It's how consumers come to know, love and trust your brand. It's a valuable corporate asset, and many disputes can arise of name rights with the explosion of e-commerce and the...more
The US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’S) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has ruled that the “doctrine of foreign equivalents” is a guideline rather than an absolute rule and may not apply to trademarks that combine...more
Section 22 of the Canadian Trademarks Act prohibits the use of a registered trademark “in a manner that is likely to have the effect of depreciating the value of the goodwill attaching thereto”....more
The US Patent & Trademark Office Trademark Trial & Appeal Board found that a consumer did not have standing to oppose an application for registration because the consumer failed to establish a commercial interest and injury...more
“File:200126 Lizzo on the 2020 Grammys Red Carpet.png” by Cosmopolitan UK is licensed under CC BY 3.0. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has approved the trademark registration of“100% THAT BITCH” by the musical...more
One of the ways that a “Geographical Indication”, or a “GI” can be protected in Australia is by registration of a ‘certification trade mark’. Certification trade marks are a specific type of trade mark registration designed...more
An application to register US SPACE FORCE as a trademark crashed at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) when the TTAB ruled that the mark caused a false suggestion of a...more
Suppose that you want to register a trademark that incorporates a name of a person to identify the source of goods or services for your business. Should you register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is amending the rules of practice in trademark cases to implement provisions of the Trademark Modernization Action of 2020 (TMA). Effective December 3, 2022, the period to...more
As college freshmen head to campus for the start of classes, there is one vital campus bookstore purchase before classes begin: a T-shirt bearing the college’s logo. This purchase is not only a rite of passage for freshmen;...more
In a recent precedential1 opinion, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the refusal to register Jasmin Larian, LLC’s handbag design mark for “handbags” in Class 18, on the grounds...more
Thank you for reading the July 2022 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss a recent precedential TTAB decision regarding product configuration marks. We also highlight recent...more
Future Intentions Not Enough to Pave the Road to Registration - “Reduces pain,” “alleviates anxiety,” “improves sleep” – these are just some of the claims of the miraculous CBD. The surfeit of new CBD brands and products...more
The September 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses a recent non-precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision regarding intent-to-use applications covering CBD products currently...more
Global fashion brand Nine West recently filed a Notice of Opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board contesting the registration of the mark “Nina West” by a company owned by Andrew Levitt, drag name Nina West...more
Suppose that you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods or services for your business. What if you file a federal trademark application and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refuses registration of...more
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed the bipartisan COVID-19 relief and government funding bill which includes the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA). The TMA, which will become effective in one year,...more
Creativity abounds in the CBD industry – both in the wide variety of products infused with it, and in the efforts undergone by applicants trying to circumvent the Trademark Act to register per se unlawful CBD-infused...more
With the closure of “non-essential” businesses throughout the country and the world, the use of trademarks on and in connection with products and services may be interrupted or altogether halted for a period of time. This...more
In a non-precedential opinion issued this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the refusal to register Jos. A. Magnus & Co., LLC’s mark MAGNUS for “whiskey, gin, and...more
On May 9, 2019, Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West’s fourth child, Psalm West, was born. On May 18, 2019, Kim Kardashian West’s company, fittingly named Kimsaprincess Inc., filed sixteen trademark applications for PSALM...more
Under Myanmar’s new law, any existing Cautionary Notices must be refiled as trademark applications within the first few months of 2020 or risk losing their priority....more