The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just gone where no other court has gone before. In a tour-de-force judicial opinion, the Court emphatically held that a small sliver of the Lanham Act—the “disparaging trademark” provision in Section 2(a)—violates the First Amendment. continue reading...
As the global nature of the economy and business grows, companies are faced with the challenge of determining when, whether and how to provide notice of trademark rights on product packaging and advertising materials. The laws governing use of notice symbols (or “marking”) and consequences continue reading...
A recent federal district court decision involving the iconic STRATOTONE guitar brand, Agler v. Westheimer Corp. illustrates two important principles concerning the law of trademark abandonment: First, once a mark is deemed legally abandoned, it can be adopted by a third party unrelated to the legacy continue reading...
The USPTO recently launched a pilot program to allow amendments in limited circumstances to the identification of goods or services in existing trademark registrations, in order to account for changes in technology formats. The program provides new hope for the maintenance of trademark registrations for continue reading...
A little over 30 years ago, Bruce Springsteen unleashed “Born in the USA”–the rock anthem about disaffected Vietnam veterans struggling as they returned home. Today, clothing manufacturers and their resellers riffing on that “U.S.A. theme” have unleashed something quite different: class action lawsuits spurred by continue reading...
As we enter the Thanksgiving and holiday season this year, it is particularly apropos to ponder the following question: Is the TTAB going nuts? Congress tells us that the PTO cannot register trademarks that are scandalous or immoral due to Section 2(a) of the Lanham continue reading...
Has a service mark been used in commerce if the services have been offered but there are no takers? The Federal Circuit issued a decision earlier this year in Couture v. Playdom, Inc., 778 F.3d 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2015), which confirms that applicants seeking to continue reading...
The federal court for the Northern District of California has denied permanent injunctive relief in a lawsuit for trademark infringement and dilution brought by Pinterest against the use of the mark PINTRIPS for a website-based travel planning service. Pinterest, Inc. v. Pintrips, Inc., 13-cv-04608 (N.D. continue reading...
In trademark and advertising disputes, one question frequently rises to the top of the discussion between counsel and client: “Do we need a consumer survey?” Because well-designed surveys can act as proxies for what is happening in the marketplace among relevant consumers, many courts and continue reading...
In a surprise move, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals withdrew its earlier decision in Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com and issued a new opinion holding that the online behemoth is not liable to specialty watch maker Multi Time Machine, Inc. (“MTM”) for trademark continue reading...
Jeffrey CadwellJeff advises clients on the availability, registrability, and stre...
Michael KeyesJ. Michael Keyes is an intellectual property attorney with exten...
Kaleb McNeelyAs a partner in the Trial Group, Kaleb practices primarily in the ...
Sarah RobertsonSarah has over fifteen years’ experience helping clients prot...
Fara SunderjiFara assists clients in the development and execution of all type...
Charlene KroghCharlene Krogh is a Partner in Dorsey’s top-ranked Tradem...
Evan EveristEvan is a partner in Dorsey’s Trademark, Copyright and Adverti...