Shoes are always in the news. From a fashion standpoint, Nike has made headlines this week, with a re-release of the Classic Cortez running shoe (aka, the Forrest Gump shoe) along with the second edition of the LeBronald Palmer. And yes, the LeBronald Palmer is exactly what it sounds like, LeBron James creating a shoe
February 2015
The NORTH STAR Guides One to Trademark Issues
Minnesota is known as the North Star State – L’Étoile du Nord. The state of hipsters, unique dining experiences, bitter cold winters, gorgeous summer nights, and fantastic craft brewers also has an impressive craft cocktail scene. One of its stars has been Johnny Michaels, formerly barman at La Belle Vie, a restaurant that is consistently…
Trademarks That Violate Public Policy
As our friend John Welch reported last week, the place to be on March 10, 2015, is Washington, D.C., at the 25th Annual “PTO Day,” sponsored by the Intellectual Property Owners Association:
John will be part of the panel update on TTAB practice, and I’ll be providing the overview of Section 2(a)…
Super Mario in a 3D Printed World
– Derek Mathers, Business Development Manager, Worrell
We are at the brink of a very interesting paradigm shift in economic and legal history, where the fabrication of physical objects is becoming as democratized and accessible as computer processing. Decreases in the price of digital fabrication…
Taking a Jaunt Down Product Naming Lane
We’ve made a lot of friends in the naming community over the last six years, special congrats to one of them, Anth Shore over at Operative Words, whose work in naming Jaunt was recently featured in a New York Times article called: The Weird Science of Naming New Products.
It is a fascinating…
Hope You Didn’t Get A Longchamp Bag For Valentine’s Day
Crafting an Effective Fair Use Defense
The beer industry is rife with trademark legal issues. We’ve discussed quite a few here, including disputes over brewery names, attempts to register as a trademark the design of a beer glass, or the longstanding issue of whether all alcoholic products are related for likelihood of confusion purposes.
Because of the importance of…
BRANDING FOR STARTUPS
– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash
I’m often hired for name development by entrepreneurs who are starting a business. However, many founders take the “do-it-yourself” approach to name development. Sometimes that works for them, but all too often they make a horrible mistake that is easily preventable.
My basis for this conclusion?
Here are a few…
Samsung Boards Brandverbing Bandwagon
Samsung appears to be the most recent brand to board the brandverbing bandwagon with its Galaxy Note 4 advertising campaign, asking the critical question: Do You Note?
Samsung has federally-registered in the U.S. the trademark GALAXY NOTE for smart phones, mobile phones, and tablet computers — note the absence of a disclaimer of NOTE,…
Get to the Chopper: A Service Mark on a Helicopter?
-Wes Anderson, Attorney
When a business uses its trademark in connection with an ordinary billboard advertisement, should it try to register the billboard as another trademark unto itself? I venture that nearly every trademark attorney would say no. But what if the billboard was a helicopter?
MedLegal Network, out of Santa Monica, California, promotes personal…