News & Analysis as of

Lanham Act Likelihood of Confusion Trademark Registration

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, and it Might be Infringing – Cannabis Companies Clash Over Trademarks for Storage Bags

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IP cases in the cannabis industry are lighting up court dockets more and more. In a new case with potential for serious baggage, Kinzie Advanced Polymers, LLC (“Kinzie”) filed a federal lawsuit against a group of...more

Mayer Brown

Non-Traditional Trademarks

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In the debut episode of The Upper Brand podcast, Mayer Brown attorneys Richard Assmus, Kristine Young, and Christa Cole delve into the evolving world of non-traditional trademarks—covering everything from colors and scents to...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Making Your Mark

Brewed in San Diego: Trademark Lessons from America's Craft Beer Capital and Beyond

This year, the INTA Annual Meeting lands in sunny San Diego, California—a city known not only for its breathtaking coastline, laid-back vibe, and rich cultural diversity, but also for its dynamic landscape of iconic brands...more

Amundsen Davis LLC

How Businesses Can Enforce Trademark Registrations

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Trademark registrations are a great tool for business owners to protect their brand identity. Unlike some other forms of intellectual property protection, trademarks can last forever provided that they are actively used and...more

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC

Fourth Circuit Confirms: Physical Distance Does Not Avoid Trademark Confusion

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision confirming that using similar names for businesses in the same industry can result in a likelihood of confusion despite the physical distance of the entities. In...more

Knobbe Martens

Fireball Frenzy: When First Registering a Mark, Genericness of a Mark Is Determined at the Time of Registration

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BULLSHINE DISTILLERY LLC v. SAZERAC BRANDS, LLC - Before Moore, Reyna and Taranto. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In assessing genericness, the TTAB considers how the mark was understood at the time of...more

Irwin IP LLP

Your “Chicken Scratch” May Be Confusing 

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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

McDermott Will & Emery

Opposers Beware: Your Own Mark May Not Be Protectable

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s dismissal of an opposition to the registration of the marks IVOTERS and IVOTERS.COM while also noting that the US Patent &...more

Fish & Richardson

TTAB Puts Pool Hall Behind the 8 Ball

Fish & Richardson on

On March 20, 2025, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) granted an opposition filed by Jack’s Family Restaurants, LP, and denied an application filed by Jack’s Grill and Billiards, Inc., to register JACK’S...more

Offit Kurman

Trademark Registration Misconceptions: What Brand Owners Should Know

Offit Kurman on

Many business owners view trademark registration as a smart investment—and they’re right. A federal registration gives you valuable legal advantages, including nationwide priority, a presumption of ownership, and stronger...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Zone of Natural Expansion Is a Shield, Not a Sword

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Trademark Trial & Appeal Board decision to partially cancel trademarks, ruling that an opposition challenger could not use the zone of natural expansion doctrine to...more

McDermott Will & Emery

No Bull: Historically Generic Term Can Become Non-Generic

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Trademark Trial & Appeal Board rulings, finding that a previously generic term was not generic at the time registration was sought because at that time the mark, as...more

Fish & Richardson

USPTO Kicks “Hijacker” of Foreign Trademark Out the Door

Fish & Richardson on

When, if ever, is it okay to use a trademark in U.S. commerce that is identical to another company’s mark used outside the U.S.? Courts have struggled with this issue for years, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Lager Than Life: $56 Million Verdict in Beer Trademark Dispute Still on Tap

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a $56 million trial verdict in a trademark dispute, finding that the evidence supported the jury’s conclusion that a beer company’s rebranding of one its beers infringed a...more

Baker Donelson

Baker's Trademark Developments of 2024

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2024 has been a busy year in all intellectual property. It has been especially busy in trademark law. Here are the top seven cases in trademark law to date....more

Erise IP

What’s Trending in Trademarks, May 2024: Taylor Swift Fans Analyze Latest Trademark Filing; San Francisco Sues Over San Francisco...

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Every month, Erise’s trademark attorneys review the latest developments at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the courts, and across the corporate world to bring you the stories that you should know about: Taylor...more

BakerHostetler

Extraterritorial Reach of the Lanham Act

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The Supreme Court recently ruled in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. that Lanham Act (Act) remedies for trademark infringement do not extend to infringing conduct that takes place outside the United...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Parody, trademarks and the courts

Delineating the boundaries between trademark protection and protected speech has been a long-contested legal issue. On one hand, the Lanham Act governs the use of trademarks to protect consumers from a likelihood of confusion...more

Polsinelli

Relax Jack...It’s Only a Joke!

Polsinelli on

Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC. (Docket 22-148) On March 22, 2023, VIP Products LLC told the Supreme Court that its parody Bad Spaniels whiskey-bottle-shaped dog toys do not violate the Lanham Act...more

Sunstein LLP

The Long Arm of Trademark Law: Where do we draw the line?

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Can a United States court really award tens of millions of dollars in damages for violation of US trademark law under the Lanham Act where the conduct at issue did not even take place in the United States? According to a...more

Stark & Stark

Franchisor Beware: Registered Trademarks Does Not Mean Impunity from Priority Local Use Challenge

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Federal trademark registration is the Holy Grail for companies, especially franchises, looking to expand their footprint and access a national audience. But even though trademark registration confers on owners certain...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

New York and Chicago-Style Pizza Wars: The Trademark Edition

The great pizza wars of 2021 are not what you might expect. While the courts will never be able to resolve the question of who (or where) makes the best pie, a pair of decisions from the last few weeks did resolve contentious...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Eye Don’t: No Counterfeiting Without Likelihood of Confusion

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Referring to the act of counterfeiting as “hard core” or “first degree” trademark infringement, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the first time confirmed that the Lanham Act requires a likelihood of confusion...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Left Coast Appeals

This Week at The Ninth: Counterfeiting and Superfund

This week, we examine a Ninth Circuit decision addressing whether a plaintiff pursuing a Lanham Act counterfeiting claim must demonstrate that consumers were likely to be confused (the answer: yes), and another resolving the...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

Royal Palm Properties’ Trademark Gets Royal Treatment At The 11th Circuit

This trademark litigation arises out of a contentious real-estate rivalry in a very wealthy residential community called Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida....more

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