The Briefing: COVID 19 Bill Stimulates the Economy and Changes in the Intellectual Property Law
Charity seeking to register product designs as trademark icon not met the “very high burden” for showing acquired distinctiveness - On September 1, 2023 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a nonprecedential...more
Thank you for reading the August 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we conclude our series that explores ways to lose trademark rights with an examination of naked licensing, discuss a...more
Earlier this week, we reported upon a new development for accelerating examination of Canadian trademark applications. However, the Trademarks Office has backtracked, imposing the previous, more onerous requirements for...more
This spring, join our Smart & Biggar trademark experts and gain new insights at our popular Canadian Trademarks webinar series. Each webinar provides practical tips and strategies for global brand protection in Canada, with a...more
The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced that starting on December 3, 2022, those filing trademark applications will have three months (instead of the original six) to respond to office actions during...more
Is your trademark registered? Should you register it? Why should you register it? What do you have to do? What does the process look like? Can you do it yourself or do you need to hire an attorney? These are just a few of the...more
For many years, companies and individuals filing applications to register trademarks at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office enjoyed a rather quick examination process. Examining attorneys at the Trademark Office reviewed...more
When a corporation expands its business into Canada, consideration should be given to whether it can register its brand as a trademark in this new market. While a corporation may operate in this market without registered...more
The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the “TMA”) was buried in the enormous COVID relief and stimulus bill (i.e., the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021), signed into law on December 27, 2020. The TMA amends federal...more
In this episode, Scott and Josh discuss the changes in Intellectual Property Law stemming from the recently passed COVID-19 Stimulus Bill. The IP law blog is a publication of Weintraub Tobin (www.weintraub.com). The...more
In this White Paper, we share observations on 2020's most significant developments in trademark law. This year, the U.S. Supreme Court penned three opinions concerning what constitutes a protectable trademark, available...more
A bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators in the U.S. Congress recently published a draft Trademark Modernization Act to reform the trademark application process and the remedies for trademark infringement. The draft TM...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced a new prioritized examination program to expedite the examination of applications for marks used to identify qualifying COVID-19 medical products and...more
On May 20th, 2020, in an attempt to improve the timeliness and efficiency of its services, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office formally allowed trademark examiners to enter amendments to trademark applications in...more
Statistics from 2018 reveal that .03% of trademark applications were paper filed. As such, effective February 15, 2020, paper trademark filings are no longer an option. The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO")...more
Of particular interest, to receive a filing date after February 15, 2020, all new applications must include an email address for each applicant, even if represented by an attorney. In addition, all applicants, registrants,...more
On February 7, 2020, the U.S. Trademark Office issued long-anticipated guidelines governing electronic filing and electronic communications with attorneys and trademark owners. Effective February 15, 2020, these new rules...more
Prior to January 17, 2020, extensions of time were readily available during Canadian trademark prosecution. A single six-month extension could be secured without providing any substantive reasons. Further six-month...more
Unlike patents and copyrights, obtaining a federally registered trademark requires (among other things) that applicants abide by the “lawful” use in commerce requirement. In other words, the United States Patent and Trademark...more
Legalizing “hemp” under the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) has triggered an important change for the examination of federal trademark applications concerning cannabis and cannabis-derived goods and...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") generally refuses to register marks that violate federal law. Hemp and hemp-derived CBD were previously classified as Schedule I controlled substances under the Controlled...more
Following the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill [see related article1], the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just this morning released a new Trademark Examination Guide for marks covering cannabis and...more
The beginning of 2019 brought some notable amendments to Korea’s intellectual property rights guidelines. On the trademark side, effective January 1, 2019, Korea’s Trademark Examination Guidelines were amended to include...more
June 17, 2019 is the big day – a day anticipated since 2014. The major changes to the Canadian Trademarks Act will be implemented on this day. What does this mean for trademark owners?...more