A recent United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) decision highlighted the importance of litigation strategy. In 2023, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) granted Uninterrupted IP LLC’s (“UNIP”) request to cancel a trademark registration held by Game Plan Inc….
A recent petition for a writ of certiorari filed with the United States Supreme Court brings into question the application of the doctrine of foreign equivalents. Under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, a trademark consisting of a foreign word with a merely descriptive English translation…
Legal decisions, like fine wine, should be balanced. The Federal Circuit recently corked a non-precedential TTAB decision that ECHO D’ANGÉLUS was not confusingly similar to ECHO DE LYNCH BAGES, where both were used for wine, because the TTAB relied on a concept that no party…
The Dorsey Trademark, Copyright + Advertising team is back from the 2025 International Trademark Association Meeting. It was one for the books. We mixed and mingled with old and new colleagues and as well as our friends from around the world. In between all the…
Identical trademarks can coexist, as the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board once again emphasized when it overturned the refusal of a COMPASSION IN ACTION mark. The Board’s decision is both a lesson in strategically narrowing an application’s services and a cautionary tale of how to…
John Wick is a highly successful film franchise starring Keanu Reeves as a hitman who reluctantly emerges from retirement to avenge the killing of his pet beagle (among other offenses committed by a group of not-very-nice Russian gangsters). The first movie in the series came…
“Enjoy your reign while you may, Superman. For surely as night follows day, there comes a time when even gods must die.” – Lex Luthor, Superman: Doomsday Last month, the creators of beloved characters like “Superman” and “Spider-Man” declined to come to their…
In Snap, Inc. v. Vidal, the Central District of California found the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) was wrong in finding that SnapChat’s SPECTACLES mark is generic for smart glasses. The district court’s opinion highlights the advantages of seeking de novo review of TTAB…
Cognac, which originates from a specific region of France and is named after the commune of Cognac, is far more popular outside its native country. Indeed, according to the industry group Bureau National Interprofessional du Cognac or BNIC, an astonishing 98% of cognac is exported….
In March 2019, Cologne & Cognac Entertainment of New Jersey filed a trademark application at the USPTO for recordings featuring music and artistic performances, music composition services, production of musical videos in the nature of live performances by musical artists, and providing related entertainment and…
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...