It’s been almost 30 years since we were introduced to bad boy dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and sweet daddy’s girl Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey). This star-crossed duo shimmied their way to stardom in the iconic 1980s movie, Dirty Dancing. You remember the…
In a precedential opinion, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) affirmed a USPTO refusal to register the trademark HERBAL ACCESS on the basis the use of the mark in commerce was unlawful under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). Though not unexpected, as the sale…
In theory, a product brand name can communicate a false advertising message, but it doesn’t happen often in practice. Such an instance was found to have occurred according to a recent decision by the National Advertising Division in which it concluded that the name Painter’s…
Can you trademark a building design? You can if the building in question is the Empire State Building. In the film classic King Kong, the iconic art deco building is the site of a titanic battle between Kong and the military planes that battle to…
The Mexican Senate’s bill establishing a Trademark Opposition System in Mexico was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on April 28, 2016. The bill was approved by the President and will become effective August 30, 2016. The new system establishes a publication protocol by the…
On 23 June 2016 the United Kingdom electorate took the historic decision in a national referendum that the country should leave the European Union. How will that impact EU trade marks (known until recently as Community trade marks)? Well, no-one really knows yet. The decision…
More than half a century ago, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an influential decision in Dawn Donut Co. v. Hart’s Food Stores, Inc., concerning the proper scope of injunctive relief in a trademark infringement case where the plaintiff owns a federal…
As trademark and copyright counterfeiting and piracy has grown, courts have become more willing to grant meaningful relief to rights owners and to penalize counterfeiters and those who facilitate their illicit activities. For example, for many years courts have held that landlords and operators of…
We blogged last week about a recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. v. Security University, LLC, in which the Court confirmed the legal standard for assessing likelihood of confusion when a defendant…
If a defendant in a trademark case uses the plaintiff’s trademark, not to identify the defendant’s own products, but rather to refer accurately to the plaintiff’s products, is that trademark infringement? Called “nominative fair use” because it is a use of a trademark to “name”…
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...