After visiting Rio to experience the Olympic Games a few weeks ago, I still feel like a winner. One athlete who won big in Rio was Usain Bolt, who took home three medals in three Track and Field events during the Games this year. Over…
Today, the USPTO made it official: It formally requested the U.S. Supreme Court to review the en banc Federal Circuit decision that held Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act violated the First Amendment. The USPTO’s Petition can be found here. At issue in the case…
A recent precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision provides valuable guidance on the proper allocation of trademark registration ownership as between a corporate parent and a subsidiary, highlighting the perils of identifying the wrong entity as the owner. A trademark is not required to…
Many online businesses prefer to use domain names that communicate as clearly and concisely as possible the types of goods and services offered on their websites. That may be good marketing strategy. But as a recent decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board demonstrates,…
On January 28, 2016, Dorsey & Whitney’s Seattle office hosted a CLE panel discussion regarding In Re Simon Shiao Tam, the Federal Circuit decision holding that the “disparaging” trademark prohibition in Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act violated the First Amendment. The panel featured Simon…
Various media outlets were abuzz recently about how Marshawn Lynch received a federal trademark registration for “I’m Just Here So I Won’t Get Fined” for t-shirts and other apparel items. He uttered that phrase more than 20 times at a press conference before last year’s…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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...