Earlier this month, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) announced a recommendation that Planting Hope Brands, LLC discontinue use of the ® (registered trademark symbol) in advertising a...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the retirement of its Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) and Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) and the launch of its new Assignment...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a bulletin on the New Madrid Protocol webpages for international trademark applicants (govdelivery.com). Specifically, the USPTO explains that its website...more
Anyone who’s followed this blog knows that I’ve done a few (really more than a few) posts about the evolution of the Washington football team’s trademark battles. As a reminder, after ultimately winning its trademark fight to...more
On December 18, 2021, regulations implementing the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 went into effect. According to the USPTO’s website, the changes provide individuals, businesses, and the USPTO with “new tools to clear...more
Whether the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) possessed trademark registrations for its own trademarks was honestly not something I had ever thought about before. But then I received a link to the Director’s...more
ICYMI, a new Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) was released by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last month. The July 2021 revision replaces and supersedes the October 2018 version, and it...more
Throughout this summer, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is offering its series of virtual webinars dubbed “Trademark Basics Boot Camp.” The series appears to be tailored to small business owners and...more
Thursday I attended the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) virtual webinar on trademark trends and current developments in the United States and in Israel. Among the speakers were Andrei Iancu, the Under...more
To apply for a federally-registered trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an applicant is required under 15 U.S.C. § 1051 to, among other things, submit specimens of the mark and verify that it...more
Earlier this month, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a precedential ruling that the term “Gruyere” for cheese is generic. In 2015, Swiss and French industry groups sought a certification mark for the term,...more
As a surprise to many, the Washington Redskins recently announced that it will be changing its 87-year old name. This decision comes after recent events that sparked nationwide discussions about race and caused various...more
Sometimes it’s back to basics. This time, the simple difference between trademarks, copyrights, and patents. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) provides guidance....more
Earlier this month, the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s (USPTO) finalized and announced a rule requiring foreign trademark applicants to be represented by a United States licensed attorney when applying for a US...more
It’s old news by now, but the Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that the immoral and scandalous trademark ban set forth in Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it disfavors...more
6/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Lanham Act ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
Earlier this month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued Examination Guide 1-19, intended to “clarify the procedure for examining marks for cannabis and cannabis-derived goods and for services...more
Earlier this month, at the request of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals officially set a trademark registration requirement by making an earlier ruling precedential. That...more
Just when we thought the unconstitutionality of the ban on disparaging and scandalous trademarks had been resolved, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is shaking things up....more
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) affirmed the refusal by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to allow a Florida company to register trademarks containing the word “Keto.”...more
March Madness always brings about trademark enforcement-related news. What we generally don’t see is news about a participating school submitting trademark applications while the basketball tournament takes place. ...more
In what may be the final installment of a series of blog posts related to the Lanham Act’s disparaging trademark ban and its effect on the Washington Redskins’ trademarks, the Fourth Circuit finally issued a decision in the...more
Continuing my ongoing coverage of the Lanham Act’s disparaging trademark ban, the Federal Circuit ruled today that the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2017 ruling striking down the ban on disparaging trademarks also applies to the...more
In direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the constitutionality of section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which as enacted barred the registration of disparaging trademarks, there is reason to believe...more
On June 19, 2017, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated ruling in the Lee v. Tam trademark dispute involving the rock band, The Slants. As detailed in an earlier blog post, the legal issue faced by the...more