When it comes to proving use of marks in commerce, perception by consumers is everything. If consumers perceive a mark as identifying only a particular component or feature of the goods in a specimen, the PTO will likely...more
The September 2019 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses a component mark case study, LeBron James' recent trademark application, and the current gTLD sunrise period.
In this issue:
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In a recent precedential decision, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) confirmed that a hashtag symbol (#) generally adds little or no source-indicating distinctiveness to a trademark. In this case, rapper...more
9/5/2018
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Domain Names ,
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Music Industry ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Trademark Examination ,
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks
The August 2018 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses requirements for registering a scent mark, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's confirmation on whether hashtags add distinctiveness to a...more
UGG brand boots are a popular fixture on many holiday wish lists, but did you know that the UGG trademark has been the center of a dispute for the past decade? The comfortable sheepskin boots had a long history prior to their...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
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
The October 2016 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter provides an update on the Redskins trademark case, discusses a recent TTAB ruling regarding ownership of families of marks, and announces the new gTLD...more
11/2/2016
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Disparagement ,
Domain Names ,
Federal Trademark Register ,
gTLD ,
Lanham Act ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Redskins ,
Sunrise Periods ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Ownership ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks
Last month, Federal Express announced that all of its logos moving forward would use the brand's recognizable purple and orange color scheme. Before this change, each division of the company used different colors paired with...more
In a recent TTAB case, the Board considered whether a stylization of a descriptive term supports registration on the Principal Register. The short answer? It depends....more
When you create a social media profile on a platform such as Twitter, and engage with other Twitter users, are you creating your own online community? This question was at the heart of the TTAB's recent precedential decision...more
The June 2016 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to MarketTM newsletter discusses the rise in additional specimen requests from the USPTO, examines the TTAB's decision in In re Florists' Transworld Delivery, Inc., and notes...more
When IKEA opened its first store in Indonesia in late 2014, it wasn't the only IKEA in town. Indonesian furniture company PT Ratania Khatulistiwa registered its IKEA mark (presumably an acronym for Intan Khatulistiwa Esa...more