JONES DAY TALKS®: Women in IP: 2020 in Review and a Look Toward 2021
Join Sterne Kessler’s Global Trademark & Brand Protection team for our mid-year review webinar, when we will take a closer look at the latest developments in trademark law. From recent court decisions to industry-trends, our...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment grant in a trademark dispute, finding that the district court did not err in concluding that a subset of design elements lacked...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
Charity seeking to register product designs as trademark icon not met the “very high burden” for showing acquired distinctiveness - On September 1, 2023 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a nonprecedential...more
Why can't I use my hometown as my brand? A trademark is part of your branding, a way to identify the source of your product or service. In many ways, the stronger the brand, the stronger the trademark. However, there are...more
One of the signs of a healthy trademark is a certain level of distinctiveness. Distinctiveness is related to consumers’ love and recognition of a mark as an indicator of a product’s source, such that consumers trust the mark...more
Thank you for reading the July 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we continue our three-part series that closely examines ways to lose trademark rights with a discussion of genericide. We...more
In In re Palacio Del Rio Inc (Serial Nos 88412764 and 88437801), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has issued an opinion affirming the refusal of two building design mark applications by Palacio Del Rio Inc (PDR) –...more
The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board affirmed the rejection of three trademark applications, finding that the applied-for marks would cause confusion with a record-setting major league baseball player. Major League Baseball...more
Ending a hard-fought three-year campaign to secure registration of a popular handbag, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Trademark Trial & Appeal Board designated as precedential its decision refusing registration of the...more
For the second time, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit examined the standard for demonstrating fraud in a party’s claim of a trademark’s acquired distinctiveness for purposes of registration under Section 2(f)...more
BROOKLYN BREWERY CORPORATION V. BROOKLYN BREW SHOP, LLC - Before Judges Dyk, O’Malley, and Hughes. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: A challenger must demonstrate an injury in fact to have...more
The TTAB has affirmed a refusal to register the trade dress configuration mark (see below) of the popular Timberland boot, a wardrobe staple in hip-hop culture (see The World is Yours by Nas), stating the configuration failed...more
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Virginia Urology Center, P.C. - (TTAB Proceeding No.: 92076376) - The National Collegiate Athletic Association, better known as the NCAA, filed a petition before the...more
In a recent non-precedential opinion, the TTAB affirmed a refusal to register Melissa & Doug, LLC’s red oval background mark (the “Proposed Mark”), finding that the acquired distinctiveness factors weighed against a finding...more
[co-author: Joseph Diorio, Law Clerk] The January 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses: a recent non-precedential TTAB decision on background designs; the Trademark Modernization Act;...more
Jones Day's Meredith Wilkes and Anna Raimer discuss 2020's most significant developments in trademark law and preview what's to come in 2021, including possible progress in Washington on the highly anticipated Trademark...more
On June 30, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision regarding the trademark application of Booking.com. In United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com, the Court held that a mark...more
How appropriate that the first-ever Supreme Court case to consider whether trademarks used on the internet can be registered should also be the first in which oral argument was conducted remotely. The issue in this historic...more
As is often the case, technology develops faster than the law. In that connection, courts are often called upon to apply legislation from yesteryear to technology which, at the time the legislation was passed, would have been...more
On June 30, 2020, the US Supreme Court held that a “generic.com” mark (a generic term in combination with “.com”) could be eligible for federal trademark registration, refusing to adopt the US Patent and Trademark Office’s...more
The United States Supreme Court issued the long-awaited Booking.com decision on Tuesday. Justice Ginsburg delivered the 8-1 opinion of the Court, holding that a combination of a generic term and a top-level domain name, like...more
The Lanham Act (“Act”) makes it clear that generic terms cannot be registered as trademarks. But can an online business create a protectable trademark by adding a generic top-level domain (e.g., “.com”) to an otherwise...more
On Monday, we listened in real time to the livestreamed Supreme Court oral arguments in the trademark registration case United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. Because of COVID-19, the arguments were...more
On May 4, 2020, the United States Supreme Court heard its first ever telephonic oral argument in its history. The case, styled United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com, B.V., addressed the issue of whether the...more