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Haug Partners LLP

Federal Circuit Clarifies The Relevance Of Third-Party Trademark Registrations In Determining The Conceptual And Commercial...

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In a significant decision, the Federal Circuit has clarified the weight given to third-party registrations in determining the strength of the opposer’s mark and has firmly placed the burden of showing non-use of such marks on...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Federal Circuit Turns the Burden on Trademark Owners to Prove Identical Third-Party Marks Are Not in Use

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In Spireon, Inc. v. Flex Ltd., No. 2022-1578 (Fed. Cir. June 26, 2023), the Federal Circuit took a surprising turn in which it held that it is the trademark owner’s burden to prove that identical third-party marks put forth...more

Sunstein LLP

The Long Arm of Trademark Law: Where do we draw the line?

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Can a United States court really award tens of millions of dollars in damages for violation of US trademark law under the Lanham Act where the conduct at issue did not even take place in the United States? According to a...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Federal Circuit Court Denies "Lehman Brothers" Trademark for Whiskey

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 1, 2022, issued an order in favor of Barclays Capital Inc. (Barclays) in relation to its opposition to a trademark application for LEHMAN BROTHERS. The court affirmed...more

McDermott Will & Emery

It’s Not in the Bag: TTAB Refuses to Register Generic Handbag Design

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Ending a hard-fought three-year campaign to secure registration of a popular handbag, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Trademark Trial & Appeal Board designated as precedential its decision refusing registration of the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

“TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Decision Leaves Big Questions

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Revisiting jurisprudence touching on the Lanham Act and the First Amendment from the Supreme Court’s decisions in Matal v. Tam and Iancu v. Brunetti, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that applying Sec....more

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

Federal Circuit Affirms Refusal to Register Generic Top-Level Domain Trademarks

On February 2, in In re: Vox Populi Registry Ltd., the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) refusal to register a standard character mark and a stylized mark, both related to the “.sucks”...more

McDermott Will & Emery

PTO Publishes Regulations to Implement Trademark Modernization Act

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The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) recently published its final rules implementing provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA). Most changes are effective as of December 18, 2021, but certain changes...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Second Circuit Upholds Settlement Agreements Among Competitors Not to Bid on Rivals’ Names as Keywords

On June 11, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s administrative order against 1-800 Contacts Inc., the nation's largest online retailer of contact lenses. The...more

Mintz - Trademark & Copyright Viewpoints

The Trademark Modernization Act Establishes New Trademark Cancellation Procedures

On December 27, 2020, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“the Act”) became law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. Among other changes, the Act includes important amendments to the Lanham Act...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The TTAB Continues Its Recent Trend Of Failure-To-Function Refusals

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On December 1, 2020, the TTAB continued its recent trend of decisions refusing to register marks on the ground of failure-to-function. In another precedential decision, the TTAB refused Applicant Lee Greenwood’s (“Greenwood”)...more

Blank Rome LLP

Federal Circuit Throws Shade on TTAB’s Treatment of Color Trademarks

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Pink insulation, green tractors, robins-egg blue jewelry boxes—they all have something in common: recognizable colors that many associate with products. But can such colors be registered as trademarks and, if so, when? On...more

Mintz - Trademark & Copyright Viewpoints

The Masters’ Green Jacket is Now a Registered Trademark

Since 1949, a green jacket has been awarded to the winner of the Masters Tournament, one of golf’s four major championships. Although Augusta National, Inc. had successfully registered the word mark GREEN JACKET as a...more

Carlton Fields

EU Court Rules Cannabis Trademark Unregistrable as Contrary to Public Policy

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The General Court of the European Union ruled on December 12 that the Cannabis Store Amsterdam logo was unregistrable as violative of public policy and morality because it would encourage illegal activity. This decision is...more

Hogan Lovells

China Trademarks: 2018 Highlights & 2019 Forecast

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Last year, right holders in China have seen a number of major developments including; a milestone Supreme Court judgment dealing with trademark squatting, new specialized cyberspace courts, a new E-Commerce law, clarification...more

Weintraub Tobin

Consumers Have Standing To Challenge Trademark Registrations

Weintraub Tobin on

The Trademark Trial and Appeals Board recently issued an interesting decision regarding standing to oppose the registration of trademark applications. United Trademark Holdings, Inc. filed for registration of the mark...more

Hogan Lovells

China’s highest court slams trademark squatter, confirming that hoarding trademarks is unlawful

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In a recent judgment, China’s highest court, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”), dealt a significant blow to trademark squatters. The case is noteworthy for several reasons...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

The Federal Circuit Vacates and Remands An International Trade Commission Final Determination in A Trademark-Based Investigation

• The Federal Circuit issued a rare precedential decision in an appeal from a trademark- and trade dress-based ITC investigation. • In its decision, the Federal Circuit reiterated that the act of trademark registration does...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Making Your Mark

10 Trademark Cases About Yo Mama

Anna Jarvis led the efforts to establish the first official celebration of Mother’s Day in 1908, during which she honored her own mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a Civil War-era social activist. But about a dozen years after...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Who Should Own a Trademark Registration? The Case of the Not-So-Related Parent Company

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A recent precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision provides valuable guidance on the proper allocation of trademark registration ownership as between a corporate parent and a subsidiary, highlighting the perils...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

What’s That Sound? It Might Just Be a Trademark.

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Trademarks are not only words or logos, but can come in many other forms, including sounds. In the words of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in the case In re Gen. Electric Broad. Co., 199 USPQ 560, 563 (TTAB 1978),...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Federal Judge vs. TTAB – Trademark Battle over Bear Bryant’s Houndstooth Hat

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The case of The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama and Paul W. Bryant, Jr. v. Houndstooth Mafia Enterprises LLC et al. showcases an unusual clash between a federal judge and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

No Room at the USPTO: TTAB Rejects Booking.com Trademarks As Generic

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Many online businesses prefer to use domain names that communicate as clearly and concisely as possible the types of goods and services offered on their websites. That may be good marketing strategy. But as a recent decision...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

TTAB Makes Double Brown Ale Open to Nut Sack Mark

In a ruling bound to please 15 year-old boys everywhere, the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal to register the trademark NUT SACK DOUBLE BROWN ALE (in standard character...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Thirty Years’ Use of Mark Is Not Enough to Prove Acquired Distinctiveness if Evidence Is Insufficient - In re Louisiana Fish Fry...

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Addressing the issue of distinctiveness, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) decision to deny registration of a plaintiff’s mark due to the dearth of evidence supporting the plaintiff’s...more

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