The Briefing: The Supreme Court Limits the Reach of The Lanham Act
The U.S. Trademark Use Requirement and Associated Risks and Strategies for Chinese Applicants
Noting how rare it is for trademark infringement cases to be decided on summary judgment, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment finding that the plaintiff law firm...more
Applying generally accepted principles of trademark law, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that using a competitor’s trademarks in marketing materials to promote competing products constitutes trademark...more
Addressing whether a webpage printout showed use of a mark in commerce, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB’s) decision denying registration of the mark and...more
Before Newman, Linn, and Dyk. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. Summary: The Trademark Act’s definition of “use in commerce” as a requirement for obtaining a federal trademark does...more
The mark must be used “in Commerce” and in good faith in the ordinary course of trade. While the USPTO will generally not conduct an inquiry, the applicant must claim use that qualifies as “Use in U.S. Commerce”. What...more
A recent decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Tidal Music AS v. The Rose Digital Entertainment LLC (Opp. No. 91232127) confirms the importance of ensuring proper use of a service mark before filing an...more
When seeking particular services, consumers are often drawn into a business based on branding and advertising found near the location – whether by signage on or around the establishment, or by glimpses of the services being...more
Surname Not Registrable Absent Substantially Exclusive Use - As a result of various third-party uses of the surname “Ayoub” for similar services, Applicant’s use of AYOUB did not meet the requirement of Section (f) that...more
Happy summer! We are seeing some great new styles this summer here on Madison Avenue, and of course, there are a number of hot legal issues to consider as we head into the fall. Our latest issue discusses the applicability of...more
Registration Cancelled Where Services Related to Mark Not Provided - Playdom, Inc. filed a petition to cancel Couture’s mark, arguing that the registration was void because Couture did not use the mark in commerce as of...more
On March 2, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its first-ever ruling addressing use requirements for registering service marks. The court held that offering a service, without the actual rendering...more
In Couture v. Playdom, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that the use of a mark on a website to offer services is not use in commerce sufficient to support an actual-use service mark application. As a result, the Court affirmed...more
In This Issue: - Scammers Still Be...Scamming - Contests – Check Rules Before Offering! - Catalogs as Specimens - gTLD Sunrise Periods Now Open - Excerpt from Scammers Still Be...Scamming: Based...more