Understanding the Impact of IPR Estoppel and PTAB Discretionary Denials — Patents: Post-Grant Podcast
Podcast: IP(DC): Inside Patent Reform Efforts, Anticipated Federal Circuit Appeals, and Patent Cases of the Upcoming Supreme Court Term
Is the Patent Litigation Boom Coming to an End?
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit came out with its decision in In Re Brunetti, which sheds new light on whether widely used commonplace words can ever become registered trademarks. ...more
In response to artist and entrepreneur Erik Brunetti’s ongoing efforts to register FUCK as a trademark for various goods and services, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the Trademark Trial & Appeal...more
The Federal Circuit’s recent precedential decision in In re Erik Brunetti has surely raised some eyebrows in the trademark community (and beyond), not just for its subject matter (the attempted registration of a certain...more
On July 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) dismissal of Sunkist Growers, Inc.’s (Sunkist) opposition to Intrastate Distributors, Inc.’s (IDI)...more
SUNKIST GROWERS, INC. v. INTRASTATE DISTRIBUTORS, INC. - Before Prost, Taranto, and Stark. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The TTAB incorrectly found that similar trademarks created distinct commercial...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Trademark Trial & Appeal Board decision, concluding that there was a likelihood of confusion between the marks KIST and SUNKIST when used in connection with soft...more
Suppose that you want to register your trademark that is in a non-English language on goods or services for your business in the United States. Will your non-English language trademark need to be translated to English to...more
IN RE THOMAS D. FOSTER, APC, - Before Moore, Prost, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act bars registration of a pending application for a mark that falsely...more
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmed a denial by the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of an application filed by fashion house Vetements Group AG for VETEMENTS for various articles of...more
IN RE: VETEMENTS GROUP AG - Before Prost, Wallach, and Chen. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. A party opposing application of the doctrine of foreign equivalents has the burden to show that the ordinary...more
In this episode of The Upper Brand, Kristine Young and Rich Assmus discuss the recent Federal Circuit case regarding the doctrine of foreign equivalents in trademark law. They explore the concepts of descriptiveness and...more
Addressing for the first time the test for determining whether a color mark is generic, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adopted the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s Milwaukee test as the appropriate standard,...more
In refusing registration of the color green for “chloroprene medical examination gloves,” the Federal Circuit adopted — for the first time — a legal test for genericness of color marks. The decision underscores the high...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the test for determining whether a word mark is generic also applies to color marks....more
In yet another recent example of the need for care in establishing a full record when appealing the denial of a trademark application, on April 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the denial of...more
In Re R.S. Lipman Brewing Co., LLC, 2025 WL 1099603 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 14, 2025) - Be careful when selecting a name for your product, otherwise you might find yourself cooked at the United States Patent and Trademark Office...more
In the recent precedential decision Plumrose Holding Ltd. v. USA Ham LLC, Opposition No. 91272970 (January 17, 2025), the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found that an Opposer had standing to challenge registration of a...more
On October 3, 2024, in Crocs, Inc. v. Effervescent, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) issued a precedential opinion ruling that a brand’s false claim of patent ownership in a product...more
To guide potential trademark owners and to foster strong protection for trademarks under U.S. law, the Lanham Act; 15 U.S.C. §1052, defines the types of trademarks and service which marks can be registered by whittling away...more
“TRUMP TOO SMALL”- This is the trademark that Steve Elster has been trying to get registered for the past six years since filing his trademark application all the way back in January 2018, during the Trump presidency. Since...more
The question of whether a would-be trademark, “TRUMP TOO SMALL,” warrants a First Amendment exception to the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering a living person’s name as a trademark without that person’s permission has...more
Congress passed The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Act) on December 21, 2020 and the Act was signed into law by President Trump on December 27, 2020. Though titled as COVID relief, the Act includes sweeping changes to...more
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”), in a 2-1 vote, held in Australian Therapeutic Supplies Pty., Ltd. v. Naked TM, LLC, Appeal No. 2019-1567 (Fed.Cir. July 27, 2020), that a property interest in a mark is...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled that color marks can be inherently distinctive when applied to product packaging trade dress. The CAFC upends a long-held understanding that color marks can never...more
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (CAFC) recently held that “color marks” (i.e., trademarks consisting solely of one or more colors without words or designs) can be inherently distinctive, vacating a 2018 Trademark Trial...more