In contentious custody cases, parents often ask the question of whether one parent may unilaterally change the name of the child without a Court Order or Consent of a parent. Recently, Brad Pitt was notified through...more
While I can appreciate the message Shakespeare was conveying when he wrote Romeo and Juliet, in 2023 we see that a person’s name – some may argue now more than ever – is of significant importance to an individual and a firm...more
A mark that is “primarily merely a surname” cannot be registered on the Principal Register per Section 2(e)(4) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(e)(4). Even though a surname may be rare, in In re Weale Care, LLC, Serial...more
In a recent paper, four authors attempt to assess board cultural diversity and firm performance under competitive pressures. The authors conclude that "culturally diverse boards are associated with superior performance for...more
When you get a divorce in Washington, you can ask the court to change your surname as part of the proceedings. While you can change it to any name your heart desires, the common course of events involves restoring one’s...more
Poor Juliet. If Romeo had only been named Romeo Brown or Romeo McGillicudy or anything but Romeo Montague, he could have married Juliet and lived happily ever after. Instead, well, you know what happened: poison and a dagger,...more
In a recent precedential decision, the TTAB held that the addition of one initial —or possibly even more than one initial—in front of a surname does not necessarily create the impression of a personal name. Rather, the Board...more
Trademark lawyers get excited when trademark protection maneuvers make international headlines; add glamorous royals Harry and Meghan to the mix, and everyone has an opinion on the ramifications of Sussexit and the SUSSEX...more
In a non-precedential opinion issued this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the refusal to register Jos. A. Magnus & Co., LLC’s mark MAGNUS for “whiskey, gin, and...more
The descendants of a well-known Danish scientist could not prevent the commercial use of the name ØRSTED as a trademark, domain and company name by the Ørsted Group (former Dong Energy A/S)....more
There are several grounds upon which an application for a federal trademark can be rejected, and I will discuss a couple of them here. One important ground is known as mere descriptiveness. One is not permitted to register a...more
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has recently revised its Practice Notice regarding name and surname objections....more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision that the SCHLAFLY mark had acquired secondary meaning and met the requirements for registration. Bruce S. Schlafly...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Newman, Mayer, and Stoll. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Words that are primarily a surname can be registered as trademarks if they have acquired secondary...more
In Maria E v. Experian, 2018 WL 2085221 (E.D. KY Feb 27, 2018), the court examined Experian’s inability to provide a credit report for a plaintiff with the last name “E,” and ultimately found that, because Experian never...more
Question: What do Sean Combs, J.K. Rowling, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, and Mark Wahlberg have in common? Two things, actually. First, they are all listed on the Forbes 2017 Celebrity 100 List; second, they all have gone to...more
Last month we reported on the Federal Circuit decision in Earnhardt v. Earnhardt, vacating and remanding the TTAB’s dismissal of the opposition by Teresa Earnhardt (widow of Dale Earnhardt) to the “Earnhardt Collection”...more
Addressing the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) finding that EARNHARDT was not primarily merely a surname, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit remanded the case to the TTAB to clarify its surname analysis....more
On July 27, 2017, the Federal Circuit decided Earnhardt v. Earnhardt, a trademark collision between two relatives of the famous race car driver, Dale Earnhardt. The case involved an appeal from a TTAB decision between Teresa...more
In this three-part series, we identified three distinct seasons in the lifecycle of an eponymous brand: (1) Choosing the Brand, (2) Commercializing the Brand, and (3) Legacy of the Brand. In Part 1, we discussed what is at...more
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. ...more
In this three-part series, we identified at least three distinct seasons in the lifecycle of an eponymous brand: (1) Choosing the Brand, (2) Commercialization, and (3) Legacy of the Brand. In Part 1, we discussed "Choosing...more
In Steven Covey's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he espouses the idea that "all things are created twice … a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation" (see link here). This idea applies aptly to...more
You have worked hard, you are proud of your beer, and you want the market, if not the world, to know that it is your product. At the end of the creative process, like any other artist or craftsperson, you have the urge to...more
Kate Spade, Paul Frank, Joseph Abboud, Catherine Malandrino, and Karen Millen—aside from being well-known designers, all have something else in common; they no longer own the right to use their personal names as their brands....more