When Consent Isn’t Enough – The TTAB’s Decision in In re Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla
The Briefing: COVID 19 Bill Stimulates the Economy and Changes in the Intellectual Property Law
Welcome to the quarterly issue of Sterne Kessler’s MarkIt to Market® newsletter, featuring recent developments in brand protection and emerging issues impacting trademark and copyright owners....more
On March 19, 2026, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the launch of its new AI-powered examination tool, the Trademark Classification Agentic Codification Tool (“Class ACT”), designed to streamline...more
The U.S. Trademark Office is in the middle of a major tech glow-up. With new online filing systems, enhanced tools to eliminate fake or dormant trademarks, and the potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict...more
The CHATGPT brand has exploded into the public consciousness over the past two years, but how many people can confidently tell you what “GPT” actually stands for? (If you, like me, were previously unaware – it’s “generative...more
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is preparing to open the first new round of generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications since 2012. Following its approval in late 2025 of an updated Applicant...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced on February 10, 2026 that it has added a new category to its Trademark Design Search Code Manual for sound and motion marks. The Manual now includes new...more
Unrivaled is a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The league has attracted many established WNBA stars, like Ms. Stewart, as well as up-and-coming young players like...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a preliminary injunction barring the use of PIZZA PUFF, concluding that the trademark owner failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success...more
On 8 November 2025, the European Union Intellectual Property Office ("EUIPO") adopted the new Common Practice on the Distinctive Character of Slogans ("CP17"), marking a significant step towards the harmonization of...more
Securing a federal trademark registration is one of the most effective ways to protect your brand, deter copycats, and enhance the value of your business. Yet, the path from concept to registration is full of strategic...more
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published the 13th edition of the Nice Classification, introducing changes across all 45 classes of goods and services, effective January 1, 2026. Brand owners are...more
For over twenty years, Pantone, through its Color of the Year program, has selected a color (or colors, 2021!) that reflects the latest color influences and highlights how what is happening in our culture, globally, can be...more
2025 has been a year of breaking news, including in the intellectual property space. While AI developments and big court decisions grabbed many of the 2025 headlines, the most immediate and practical changes to U.S. trademark...more
Welcome to the December 2025 issue of Sterne Kessler’s MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the changes made this year to U.S. trademark practices from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and what they mean...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Trademark Trial & Appeal Board decision upholding refusal of the KAHWA mark for cafés and coffee shops, holding that the doctrine of foreign equivalents was...more
The United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released its year-end trademark performance report. Examination timelines are improving, backlogs are shrinking, and quality remains consistently high; strong news...more
Brand owners face a changing landscape at the U.S. federal registration level as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) implements a new fee structure. These changes have important implications for trademark...more
When evaluating if two trademarks are confusingly similar, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will consider any similarities in the marks’ appearance, sound, connotation, and commercial impression. ...more
The holiday season puts brands on full display—storefronts glow, packaging pops, and signature sounds and scents fill the air. It is also a great time to consider how nontraditional trademarks might advance your brand’s...more
A consent agreement can be a powerful tool to overcome a USPTO likelihood-of-confusion refusal—but only if it’s done right. In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin attorneys Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley discuss...more
APEX BANK v. CC SERVE CORP. - Before: Hughes, Moore, and Cunningham. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”). The Board erred by excluding evidence of marks used for similar services and restricting...more
Why Your Lawyer Keeps Killing Your Favorite Brand Names - It’s Halloween season, and while most people are worried about haunted houses or horror movies, business owners often face a different kind of fright: the dreaded...more
A recent petition for a writ of certiorari filed with the United States Supreme Court brings into question the application of the doctrine of foreign equivalents. Under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, a trademark...more
As the marketplace becomes more crowded, capturing and keeping the consumer’s attention can be difficult, especially in the online world where advertisements, chatbots, and other forms of digital technology distract the...more
After more than a hundred years of settled U.S. trademark policy, an interesting problem has developed for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). How to square the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions...more