(Podcast) The Briefing - The Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents: What It Means for Your Brand
Is My Guitar Pedal a Klone or a Counterfeit? — No Infringement Intended Podcast
(Podcast) The Briefing: Trademark Basics – Protecting Names, Logos, and Brands in Entertainment
The Briefing: Trademark Basics - Protecting Names, Logos, and Brands in Entertainment
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Trending Now: An IP Podcast - Cease and Desist Letters: Protecting Your Intellectual Property the Right Way
PODCAST: PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Trending Now: An IP Podcast - Cease and Desist Letters: Protecting Your Intellectual Property the Right Way
(Podcast) The Briefing: Who Owns WallStreetBets? Trademark Use in Commerce and the Reddit Battle
The Briefing: Who Owns WallStreetBets? Trademark Use in Commerce and the Reddit Battle
Mickey Mouse: un ratón con abogado
(Podcast) The Briefing: Who Owns Jack Nicklaus? Lessons for The Creator Economy From a Brand Battle
(Podcast) The Briefing: Trademark Smoked: The Fall of General Cigar’s COHIBA Registration
The Briefing: Trademark Smoked: The Fall of General Cigar’s COHIBA Registration
How IP Can Fuel Your Startup's Growth
What Were the Cooler Wars? (Part 2) — No Infringement Intended Podcast
Innovation in Compliance: Visionary Leadership with Jackson Calame
The Briefing: Court Drowns Pepperdine's 'Waves' Trademark Battle Against Netflix
(Podcast) The Briefing: Court Drowns Pepperdine's 'Waves' Trademark Battle Against Netflix
The Briefing: The Stanley Cup Clash - A Trademark Battle (Podcast)
The Briefing: The Stanley Cup Clash - A Trademark Battle
(Podcast) The Briefing: Bad Spaniels – Infringement? No. Dilution? Yes
In trademark law, distinctiveness is key. The more distinctive a mark, the stronger its legal protection—and the easier to register and enforce the mark. Trademark law classifies marks along a spectrum of distinctiveness,...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that a district court does not need to accept both parties’ stipulation that a mark is distinctive but instead is permitted to make an evidentiary inquiry in determining...more
The Guitar Hotel in Hollywood, Florida is a hotel in the shape of the body of a guitar, with six lit-up “strings” running vertically up the surface of the building. At 7 pm daily, the hotel conducts a music and light show...more
In Airbnb Inc v Seth Bolt and Victoria Bolt, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TTAB) ruled in favour of opposer Airbnb Inc., against applicants Seth and Victoria Bolt. The board’s decision was influenced by, among other...more
The High Court has recently upheld the UKIPO’s decision that GRILLOUMI and GRILLOUMAKI can be registered as trade marks, despite opposition from the owners of the collective mark HALLOUMI. This decision highlights the...more
Trademark owners have the right to stop third parties from using marks that could cause a likelihood of consumer confusion. Third-party use of a trademark that is the same or similar to the owner's trademark for goods related...more
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: Fruity...more
For music lovers, while it may be a bit far for some to travel to Liverpool and stay in the Yellow Sub Hotel, why not have a more local adventure, in sunny Florida at The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s The Guitar Hotel,...more
What is the difference between a traditional trademark and trade dress protection? Traditional Trademarks - According to the USPTO - A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things...more
Think about your favorite pizza restaurant. What sets it apart from the frozen pizza you could pick up from your local grocery store? Is it the cheese-stuffed crust? The quality of the pepperoni?...more
By now, news has broken about The Ohio State University and its official registration of a trademark for the word “THE”. This comes after a nearly three-year battle to clinch legal branding access to a word that’s deeply...more
GALPERTI, INC. v. GALPERTI S.R.L. Before: Moore, Prost, Taranto. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Evidence of use of a term even without a showing of secondary meaning, by any third party,...more
I. Trade Dress Is Either a Trademark or Service Mark. “Trade dress” functions as either a trademark or service mark. A “trademark” is any word, term, phase, symbol, logo, design, shape, tag line, background, color, scent,...more
The typical crack and fizz sound that occurs when opening a carbonated beverage is not registrable as a sound mark as it lacks any distinctive character. This was decided by the General Court of the European Union (GC) in a...more
The US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed a district court’s conclusion that laches barred an advertising and marketing company’s claims for monetary damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition, but...more
Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential ruling on the question of whether a color mark for product packaging can ever be inherently distinctive, holding that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)...more
On April 8, 2020, in In re: Forney Industries, Inc., the Federal Circuit reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that a color mark can never be inherently distinctive. By so holding, the Federal Circuit...more
In Re FORNEY INDUSTRIES, INC. Before Dyk, O’Malley, and Chen. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Multi-colored marks may be inherently distinctive when used on product packaging....more
On April 8, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision on an appeal from the refusal of registration of a color trademark by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In this case, the applicant, Forney...more
Reviewing a decision from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the Board’s refusal to register a trademark consisting of a gradient...more
Marking a significant departure from Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure guidelines, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned an administrative decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that had...more
In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc., et al. v. Marcel Fashion Group Inc., No. 18-1086. As set forth in our prior blog posts, Lucky Brand Dungarees Inc. and related...more
One of the biggest trademark cases in 2018 addressed the issue of secondary meaning in product design—specifically, Converse’s rights in its signature Chuck Taylor® All Star® shoe. In Converse v. ITC, the Federal Circuit...more
Our China team and Hogan Lovells Fidelity have recently secured an important victory for WAWI Xiamen (Chinese subsidiary of the leading German chocolate manufacturer Wawi Group), successfully defending it from a 3D trademark...more
There were many interesting trademark cases coming out of 2018, a few of which are discussed below. The scope of Canada’s anti-dilution remedy (section 22 of the Trademarks Act) is not limited to a defendant’s use of a...more