TheTMCA.com

TTAB Appeal Fees – Winner Does Not Take All

We recently wrote about the decision in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which overturned in part the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision that the mark “Booking.com” is not registrable because the mark is generic.  The route of the appeal…

#TidalTuesday #UseInCommerce #RegistrationFail

A recent decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Tidal Music AS v. The Rose Digital Entertainment LLC (Opp. No. 91232127) confirms the importance of ensuring proper use of a service mark before filing an allegation of use. The key take-away from the decision…

The End of the Line for the Dirty Dancing Case

We have previously blogged about claims brought by Lions Gate Entertainment against a TD Ameritrade ad campaign featuring the tagline “Nobody puts your old 401K in a corner.” This was an obvious and humorous allusion to the iconic line from Dirty Dancing  that “Nobody puts…

FTC Seal of Disapproval for “Selfie” Certification Marks

For many years, consumers have relied on certification marks like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and the UL logo as an assurance of product quality. Administered by independent organizations, consumers reasonably expect that the certification is not biased by a financial or ownership stake…

Retweeting

Sued for Retweeting – Yes, That Just Happened

On Monday this week, a sports psychologist named Keith Bell sued King’s College in Pennsylvania and its football coach, Jeffery Knarr, for retweeting a photo of a page of Dr. Bell’s book “Winning Isn’t Normal.” In his complaint, Dr. Bell alleged copyright infringement, trademark infringement…