In a non-precedential opinion issued this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the refusal to register Jos. A. Magnus & Co., LLC’s mark MAGNUS for “whiskey, gin, and...more
2/10/2020
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Lanham Act ,
Prosecution History Estoppel ,
Surnames ,
Trademark Act ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Searches ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
The January 2020 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses the following topics:
- The TTAB's affirmation to refuse a mark to distillery Jos. A. Magnus & Co.;
- Six trademark and copyright cases...more
On October 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its long-awaited interim final rule establishing a national regulatory framework for domestic hemp production, called the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production...more
12/4/2019
/ Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Cultivation ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Personal Brands ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Transportation Industry ,
USDA ,
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
Earlier this month the PTO announced the inception of its Trademark Specimen Protest Email Pilot Program; as the name suggests, the program encourages the public to report any specimens that do not appear to exhibit marks as...more
It’s happened to the best of us -- the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") suspends action on an application based on a potential likelihood of confusion with a prior filed/pending application, essentially...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