It is hard to find something positive to say about counterfeiting. It costs businesses billions of dollars in lost sales and eroded goodwill every year. It poses a real threat to consumer health and safety. And it funds...more
The May 2018 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses how counterfeiting can help your brand strategy, considers the trend of "branding" clinical trials, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise Periods.
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Earlier this month the PTO announced the inception of its Trademark Specimen Protest Email Pilot Program; as the name suggests, the program encourages the public to report any specimens that do not appear to exhibit marks as...more
The March 2018 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses the impact of Brexit on trademarks, the inception of the PTO's Trademark Specimen Protest Email Pilot Program, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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Those of us with clients who do business in Canada have been watching with interest as Canada prepares to implement significant changes to its trademark laws. The new Trademarks Act (no more Trade-hyphen- marks!) was enacted...more
The February 2018 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses changes to Canadian trademark law, Federal Trade Commission versus California state rules for the "Made in the USA" designator, and lists the new gTLD...more
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
January marks the 50th issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This issue discusses Olympic marks ahead of the upcoming winter games, covers new protection for certification marks in the EU, provides an update...more
On December 15, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the Lanham Act’s prohibitions on registering scandalous and immoral marks discriminated based on content, and violated the First Amendment (In...more
1/3/2018
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Branding ,
Counterfeiting ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Scandalous/Immoral Marks ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks
The December 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses how ultra violet is the new black, a trademark practice update, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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The holiday season in the United States starts around Halloween and extends for a two-month period until the beginning of January. The holiday marathon sparks a flurry of purchasing events – such as booking airline tickets,...more
The November 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses another Ugg trademark dispute, pitfalls of holiday specific branding, "types" of protection for font and typeface designs, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise...more
Earlier this month, Unilever made headlines by accidently naming its new soap after Kim Jong Un. The shower gel line, created by a Korean designer and aimed at urban millennials in China, is called KJU....more
The October 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses trademark fails, proper use of licensed font programs, new DMCA regulations, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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Trademark owners should take note of two new types of trademark protection available in the European Community as of October 1, 2017....more
Consent agreements - in which a prior U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rights-holder provides consent to registration of a later-filed trademark - can be an efficient path to registration in situations where the...more
The September 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses consent agreements, positive developments in the European community, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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The August 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses lessons for trademark owners about genericide, lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods, and upcoming speaking engagements.
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In May of 2014, this newsletter discussed the prevalence of trademark and domain name scams, and offered tips on how to avoid being duped by fake service offerings (see "Scammers Still Be Scamming" here). Unfortunately,...more
The July 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses trademark and domain name scams and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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It’s happened to the best of us -- the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") suspends action on an application based on a potential likelihood of confusion with a prior filed/pending application, essentially...more
The Supreme Court’s June 19, 2017 decision in the Matal v. Tam case has been burning-up the news wires all week. The decision struck down a 70-year-old ban on federally registering disparaging trademarks, finding that the...more
7/5/2017
/ Brand Registry ,
Disparagement ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Matal v Tam ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Act ,
Trademark Ownership ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
The June 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses bad word brands, strategies for dealing with trademark office suspensions, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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The May 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses social media influencers' disclosure of material connections, business transfer clauses, and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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6/8/2017
/ Advertising ,
Business Transfer Agreements ,
Customer Information ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Domain Names ,
Endorsements ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
gTLD ,
Influencers ,
Social Media ,
Sponsors ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademarks
The April 2017 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® discusses navigating the lifecycle of an eponymous brand and lists the new gTLD Sunrise periods.
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