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Trademarks › Trademark Act

A Trademark is a legally registered distinctive mark or sign which identifies goods, products or services that originate or are associated with a particular person or enterprise . A typical example of a trademark... more +
A Trademark is a legally registered distinctive mark or sign which identifies goods, products or services that originate or are associated with a particular person or enterprise . A typical example of a trademark would be a company's logo such as the Nike "Check" or McDonald's "Golden Arches."  less -
Smart & Biggar

Official marks in Canada: a unique system with notable flaws

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Formally known as prohibited marks, official marks are a distinctive feature of Canadian trademark law, providing government entities with an exclusive and powerful tool to protect their marks, symbols and emblems. Private...more

Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of the Trademark Act’s “Names Clause” in Affirming Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL

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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

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

MarkIt to Market® - March 2024: Piling Up Successes by Avoiding Descriptive Dangers

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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

Smart & Biggar

How to slice through trademark challenges: Key takeaways for proper trademark licensing

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Licensing trademarks in Canada can be beneficial to a trademark owner when done properly, including providing a potentially powerful source of revenue. However, without careful drafting and management of the license, things...more

AEON Law

Patent Poetry: TTAB: No Bright-Line Rule against Trademarks for Characters

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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

Vondran Legal

Proper grounds to cancel another companies trademark

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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

Gibney Anthony & Flaherty, LLP

Modified SHOP SAFE Act Introduced to Combat Anticounterfeiting

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On September 28, 2023, Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce (SHOP SAFE) Act. This bill is being introduced in...more

AEON Law

Foreign Equivalents Doctrine May Not Apply to Trademarks that Combine English and Foreign Words

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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

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Powering-down Use of Registered Trademarks in Comparative Advertising

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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

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

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC

U.S. Businesses Need Foreign Trademark Registrations in the Wake of Abitron

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U.S. businesses selling abroad cannot enforce domestic trademarks against foreign entities selling infringing goods into the United States through strawmen, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Jack Daniel's Wins Supreme Court Battle with Dog Toy Seller Who Mocked Iconic Brand

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In a win for brand owners across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that potential infringers as a threshold matter are not automatically shielded from liability by simply claiming their infringement includes...more

Jenner & Block

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument over Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Trademark Law

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On March 21, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. over whether the infringement provisions of the United States Trademark Act impose liability for...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Hairy Situation: Trademark Act Doesn’t Provide Consumer Standing

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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

AEON Law

Patent Poetry: Trademark Board Rules 100% for Lizzo

AEON Law on

“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

Willcox & Savage

Application for Mark US SPACE FORCE Crashes at Trademark Board

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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

International Lawyers Network

Trademarking a Name and the Right of Publicity

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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

Ballard Spahr LLP

Trademark Office Shortens Deadline to Respond to Office Actions

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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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

College T-shirts and Trademarks – Ornamental, or Protectable?

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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

McDermott Will & Emery

If You Come for the Prince, You Best Not Miss

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In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) granted two opposers’ motions for partial judgment on their claim of false suggestion of a connection under Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act based on a...more

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

MarkIt to Market® - July 2022: How to Ensure Your Trade Dress Doesn't Go to Hell in a Handbasket

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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

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

MarkIt to Market® - July 2022

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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

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

MarkIt to Market® - September 2021: Watching the Pot™

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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

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

MarkIt to Market® - September 2021

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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

Weintraub Tobin

Nine West Asks Drag Queen Nina West To Sashay Away… From Her Trademark Application

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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

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