Popular, Trademark Litigation, Trademark Registration

Trademark Rights Explained: Common Law vs. Federal Registration

DarrowEverett LLP on 8/15/2025

Whether a business is launching a new product or rebranding an existing company, selecting a name, logo, or slogan is a crucial decision. Trademarks are powerful tools that identify the source of goods or services and protect...more

From Radio Stunt to Licensing Asset: What Wing Bowl Teaches Us About Trademark Value

Volpe Koenig on 7/9/2025

What’s in a name? For Philadelphians (and young men of a particular era) “Wing Bowl” conjures up zany images from the 1993-2018 annual early morning chicken wing eating competition including scantily clad women, radio...more

Uber’s Opposition Fails the Grade in Tutors Trade Mark Dispute

International Lawyers Network on 6/30/2025

The Australian Trade Marks Office has permitted the registration of the trade mark UBER TUTORS after finding that transport and delivery giant, Uber Technologies Inc (Uber Tech) failed to oppose the mark’s registration under...more

Amendments to Trademarks Regulations Prompt Changes at Trademarks Opposition Board

Cozen O'Connor on 2/13/2025

On January 29, 2025, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) announced that the long-awaited amendments to the Trademarks Regulations (SOR/2018-227) and new practice notices implementing cost awards, confidentiality...more

USPTO Kicks “Hijacker” of Foreign Trademark Out the Door

Fish & Richardson on 2/3/2025

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

A SUPER HERO-ic Trademark Takedown

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 11/27/2024

Last month, the creators of beloved characters like “Superman” and “Spider-Man” declined to come to their own rescue when their SUPER HERO and SUPER HEROES registrations were cancelled by a default judgment from the U.S....more

A Very Demure and Very Mindful Look at What Celebrities Can Teach Us About Trademarks

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 9/13/2024

What do a social media content creator and reality television stars have in common? Apart from more followers than I’ll ever have, significant issues regarding their trademarks. Jools Lebron, a content creator, was...more

New Utah NHL Team Takes Shot-Pass With Nine Intent-to-Use Trademark Applications

Butler Snow LLP on 5/7/2024

Though the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full swing, a lot of off-ice activity is happening as a result of the sale of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith’s Smith Entertainment Group. Most hockey...more

ITU Applicants Beware: Federal Courts Have Jurisdiction Over Pending Trademark Applications

McDermott Will & Schulte on 4/11/2024

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part a district court’s ruling in a trademark dispute, upholding its decision to invalidate trademark applications. The Ninth Circuit held that district courts have...more

Trademark Insight 06/2023 – European Union & Germany // Country Focus - Spain

Hogan Lovells on 10/31/2023

In this issue, we have once again compiled interesting decisions from recent months. Of particular interest are: the CJEU decision on international territorial jurisdiction for AdWords ads and meta tags; the German Federal...more

Trademark Insight 03/2023 – European Union & Germany

Hogan Lovells on 4/28/2023

Dear readers, Last month again saw some interesting decisions, which we have compiled for you in the current issue of TRADEMARK INSIGHT. Below you will find our summaries of decisions of German courts, the EUIPO Boards of...more

Fifth Circuit Decision Highlights Trademark Protection for Fictional Elements

BakerHostetler on 4/25/2019

As previously reported on this blog, the Southern District of Texas ruled in Viacom International Inc. v. IJR Capital Investments LLC that Viacom could assert common-law rights in the trademark THE KRUSTY KRAB for a fictional...more

TTAB’s Refusal To Register Trademark Reveals Important Lesson For Trademark Attorneys

Weintraub Tobin on 11/15/2018

The Trademark Trial and Appeals Board’s recent ruling in In re Productos Verde Valle, S.A. de C.V. upholding a trademark examiner’s refusal to register the mark SONIA for “sauces; chili sauce; hot sauce” holds a lesson for...more

Federal Circuit revives Converse’s Chuck Taylor trademark and infringement claims

Hogan Lovells on 11/6/2018

In a recent decision that illustrates the relevance of timing in evaluating the question of secondary meaning, the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit breathed new life into Converse’s “Chuck Taylor” sneaker design...more

Significant Intellectual Property Trademark Decisions

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC on 3/27/2018

2017 was a year filled with significant developments in case law for trademarks. The below rulings highlight some successes and obstacles faced by companies in the protection of their trademarks and their brand as a whole. ...more

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Dilution By Blurring: TTAB Sustains DC Comics’ Opposition Against Application For Super Woman Of...

Ladas & Parry LLP on 11/6/2017

In a non-precedential decision in DC Comics v Deanna Rivetti (Opposition 91219851, August 17 2017), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) sustained an opposition to the registration of Application Number 86240703 for...more

10 Trademark Cases About Yo Mama

Foley Hoag LLP - Making Your Mark on 5/9/2017

Anna Jarvis led the efforts to establish the first official celebration of Mother’s Day in 1908, during which she honored her own mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a Civil War-era social activist. But about a dozen years after...more

Choosing Owner Entities WISELY

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 11/4/2016

In a recent precedential decision, the TTAB clarified whether a party filing an Opposition is entitled to allege a family of marks as a basis for a Section 2(d) claim when those marks are not all owned by a single legal...more

No Room at the USPTO: TTAB Rejects Booking.com Trademarks As Generic

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 3/23/2016

Many online businesses prefer to use domain names that communicate as clearly and concisely as possible the types of goods and services offered on their websites. That may be good marketing strategy. But as a recent decision...more

Trademark Practitioners Beware: Issue Preclusion May Now Apply to TTAB Findings More Often Than You Think

Proskauer Rose LLP on 9/4/2015

Trademark owners and practitioners who took heart in the Supreme Court's seemingly confined holding that issue preclusion can but does not necessarily apply to likelihood of confusion determinations by the Trademark Trial and...more

Dangers in Pro-se Federal Trademark Prosecution: Errors in Owner Identification Can Render a Seemingly Valid Registration Void

Lowndes on 8/14/2015

Many trademark owners choose to file and prosecute their own trademark applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The wisdom of filing these pro-se applications, however, is questionable in...more

Alert: Federal Court Upholds Cancellation of REDSKINS Trademark Registration

Cooley LLP on 7/11/2015

On July 8, 2015, a federal district court in Virginia upheld a ruling canceling six federal trademark registrations incorporating the term REDSKINS owned by the Washington, D.C. football team. The court agreed with the...more

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