Thank you for reading the February 2024 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the advertising rights of luxury resellers and important updates to the Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy...more
3/1/2024
/ Brand ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Counterfeiting ,
Damages ,
Discovery ,
False Advertising ,
First Sale Doctrine ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Petrella v. MGM ,
SCOTUS ,
Sound Recording Copyrights ,
Statute of Limitations ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition
Thank you for reading the May 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss Taco Bell's attempt to cancel two TACO TUESDAY trademark registrations, and a precedential TTAB decision...more
6/1/2023
/ Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc v Goldsmith ,
Artists ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Copyright ,
Drug Paraphernalia ,
Functionality ,
Generic Marks ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
Transformative Use ,
USPTO
Thank you for reading the October 2022 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss an ongoing trademark suit involving a claim of irreparable harm, share the now open gTLD Sunrise periods,...more
10/28/2022
/ Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc v Goldsmith ,
Cease and Desist ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Fair Use ,
False Advertising ,
gTLD ,
ICANN ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Lanham Act ,
Oral Argument ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Websites
The June 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses recent litigation surrounding copyright registration invalidation and implications of the increase in trademark application filings at the USPTO....more
6/29/2021
/ Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Office ,
Copyright Registration ,
Evidence ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Patents ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Because copyright applications are not substantively examined, unlike patent and trademark applications, obtaining a copyright registration is typically viewed as relatively easy. Indeed, only a minority of copyright...more
Three years ago, the Supreme Court announced a seemingly simple separability test for determining whether features of a useful article are eligible for copyright protection in the landmark decision Star Athletica v. Varsity...more
The May 2020 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses two recent precedential TTAB decisions – one regarding disclaimer scope and the other exploring how to successfully claim trademark rights in the...more
The “soft” IP world is looking forward to rulings in six trademark and copyright cases this term, far more than in recent years, and all of which address points of uncertainty that will impact trademark and copyright...more
2/10/2020
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Allen v Cooper ,
Annotated Case Law ,
Claim Preclusion ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Remedy Clarification Act ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Fair Use ,
Generic Marks ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
gTLD ,
Lanham Act ,
Lucky Brand Dungarees v Marcel Fashion Group ,
Oracle v Google ,
Profits ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Software ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
Willful Infringement
The January 2020 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses the following topics:
- The TTAB's affirmation to refuse a mark to distillery Jos. A. Magnus & Co.;
- Six trademark and copyright cases...more
The March 2019 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter addresses a Supreme Court ruling about suing for copyright infringement, the 2018 Farm Bill and CBD products, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise Period.
In...more
4/3/2019
/ Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Farm Bill ,
Federal Trademark Register ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
gTLD ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
SCOTUS ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks
The January 2019 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses Pantone Color Institute's 2019 color of the year, pointers on protecting logos through copyright registration, Korea's notable amendments to...more
1/31/2019
/ Color Marks ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Registration ,
Corporate Branding ,
Domain Names ,
gTLD ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Korea ,
Logos ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademarks
The July 2018 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses how to maintain rights in core trademarks as brands evolve, a reminder regarding importer and exporter liability for shipping counterfeit goods,...more
8/1/2018
/ Brand ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Counterfeiting ,
Domain Names ,
Exports ,
gTLD ,
Imports ,
SCOTUS ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademarks
News recently hit the wires that Grumpy Cat Ltd., the company behind the Grumpy Cat Internet “person”ality, was awarded over $700,000 in a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit. The defendant was a licensee who was...more
2/17/2018
/ Contract Terms ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Damages ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Marketing ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
YouTube
As of January 1, 2018, the U.S. Copyright Office will implement new regulations that will impact online service providers – even those that have already registered an agent. ...more
The Wall Street Journal recently reported the spike in e-book sales of Alison Waines' two-year-old novel, Girl on a Train. The cause? Apparently, some customers thought they were purchasing The New York Times' best seller...more
With the growth of mobile apps, non-tech companies face the challenge of creating apps to promote and sell their services or goods. Because the creation of an app can be a one-time project, hiring an independent software...more
Many U.S. brand owners already work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to keep counterfeit products out of the U.S. CBP examines cargo at more than 300 ports...more
Continuing our primate theme for this month's newsletter, we thought this would be as good a time as any to remind our readers as to the important distinction between copyrighted artistic works, and use of elements from those...more
It has been two years since British nature photographer David Slater first asked Wikimedia Commons to remove several photos of a crested black macaque from its online collection of public domain images. Slater claimed to own...more
The August issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to MarketTM newsletter is all about monkey business, including an analysis of the copyright debate between British photographer David Slater and Wikimedia Commons over "selfies"...more