We’re a VC firm – we don’t sell consumer products – why do we need to care about trademarks?
For any business, one’s good name is one of its most essential assets. That is especially true in venture capital, where,...more
The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled on April 23, 2020 in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Group that to recover a trademark infringer’s profits, the trademark owner need not prove the defendant “willfully” infringed its...more
4/27/2020
/ § 1125(a) ,
§ 1125(c) ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Compensatory Awards ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Lost Profits ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Vacated ,
Willful Infringement
On April 8, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) and held that multicolor designs can be inherently distinctive – and thus immediately eligible for...more
Several Yosemite National Park facilities will regain their iconic names through a settlement announced July 15, 2019 between the National Park Service (NPS) and its former concessionaire, ending a dispute that provides a...more
On June 24, 2019, the US Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling in Iancu v. Brunetti, holding that a federal law barring registration of "immoral" and "scandalous" is an unconstitutional violation of the Free Speech...more
6/25/2019
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Lanham Act ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
The US Supreme Court decided what the International Trademark Association (INTA) called "the most significant unresolved legal issue in trademark licensing" when it ruled on May 20, 2019, that bankrupt companies cannot use...more
5/22/2019
/ Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Exclusions ,
Executory Contracts ,
IP License ,
Mission Product Holdings Inc v Tempnology LLC ,
Rescission ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 365 ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Licenses ,
Trademarks ,
Trustees
On January 4, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear the United States Patent and Trademark Office's ("USPTO") appeal of In re Brunetti, 877 F.3d 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2017). In taking this case, it appears...more
Most everybody knows about "Serial," the award-winning investigative journalism podcast that tells a story in … serial form. Despite the podcast’s popularity and recognition in the media, the US Patent and Trademark Office's...more
In a much-anticipated and yet unsurprising outcome, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on December 15 struck the law barring registration of "immoral" or "scandalous" trademarks as unconstitutional in violation...more
A unanimous US Supreme Court affirmed on June 19, 2017 a lower court decision striking a law prohibiting registration of trademarks that “may disparage” because it violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the...more
6/21/2017
/ Disparagement ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Matal v Tam ,
Music Industry ,
Redskins ,
SCOTUS ,
The Slants ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
On December 22, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, overturned decades of case law by holding that a statute barring federal registration for trademarks that "may disparage" people,...more
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
7/11/2015
/ Disparagement ,
First Amendment ,
Football ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Native American Issues ,
Popular ,
Redskins ,
SCOTUS ,
Sons of Confederate Veterans ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") decisions on likelihood of confusion in disputes over registration may preclude relitigation of the issue in a later suit for trademark...more