Pop icon Lady Gaga is no stranger to making waves, but a new lawsuit initiated by California-based surfboard company Lost International (aka Lost Surfboards), shows that even superstars can find themselves navigating choppy...more
5/22/2025
/ Brand ,
Celebrities ,
Damages ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Goods or Services ,
Lanham Act ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Music Industry ,
Promotional Items ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks
Owners of U.S. trademark registrations issued in 2018 or 2019 will be facing an initial maintenance filing deadline this year (either a Section 8 or Section 71 Declaration of Use), and will need to take note of a new rule...more
Thank you for reading the December 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the USPTO's new guidance on "clothed" consent agreements, three ways to protect your identify and avoid...more
12/22/2023
/ Consent Agreements ,
Goods or Services ,
IP Assignment Agreements ,
Likelihood of Confusion ,
Risk Management ,
Spam ,
Spoofing ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
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
5/3/2019
/ Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Farm Bill ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Goods or Services ,
Hemp ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana-Infused Edibles ,
New Regulations ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Examination ,
Trademark Examination Guide ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
When examining trademark applications, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) considers whether the applied-for mark is confusingly similar to any registered or prior-filed marks by applying the following...more
The holiday season in the United States starts around Halloween and extends for a two-month period until the beginning of January. The holiday marathon sparks a flurry of purchasing events – such as booking airline tickets,...more
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”
Although this quote is attributed as a remark overheard at a computer science conference in Walter J. Savitch’s Pascal: An...more
For use-based trademark applications filed under §1(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1051(a), applicants must submit the application along with one specimen per Class showing use of the mark for the covered goods and...more
When deciding how to describe goods and services in a trademark application, applicants often err on one side of two extremes:
1. they either describe their goods/services very specifically, which may help circumvent...more
The April 2016 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to MarketTM newsletter discusses (1) the evolving nature of the USPTO's U.S. Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual, and how to use this document to craft better...more