The records of applications and registrations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are publicly available, allowing individuals and companies to evaluate the registered trademark rights of third-parties. Unfortunately, these same records are also accessible by individuals for more sinister purposes, including sending “invoices” to applicants that appear to be official requests for required payments.
November 2016
Just Wait Until the USPTO Lays Its Hands on These Single and Dual Color TM Applications
Back in 2009, we wrote about what was then Kimberly Clark’s pair of…
It Is Not “Easy Like Sunday Morning” To Use Commodore As A Trademark
The band’s song “Easy” does not reflect Commodores’ founder Thomas McClary’s court battle to use the trademark “COMMODORES founder Thomas McClary” for his solo career. As I dug further into the meaning of the song, it is actually about the relief of ending a really difficult relationship. I guess it fits that the relationship, or…
Who’s the PATRÓN Anyway?
PATRÓN (meaning “boss” or “landlord” in Spanish) is a pretty famous brand name of tequila (federally-registered since 1993), and don’t forget this gem from the archives:
In my experience, PATRÓN is often requested by name when ordering margaritas, so when visiting this cozy spot, I instantly wondered about the need for…
Had you heard of Dropbox in 2009?
The popular cloud storage system Dropbox recently won summary judgment against Thru, Inc.’s claim of trademark infringement.
Thru operates a secure file sharing system called Thru Dropbox. See the screenshot from their website below.
Dropbox filed a trademark application to register the DROPBOX mark in 2009, but was hit with a flurry of oppositions…
“Just Say No” to Rejection of Marijuana Trademarks
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Overshadowed by that yuuuge, shocking, {insert adjective for your feelings here} win was the legalization of recreational marijuana in three more states – California, Massachusetts and Nevada – in conflict with federal law. This comes at a time when there have been a number of successive decisions (here, here)…
ADD A ZERO v. ADIZERO
The long running trademark dispute between Adidas and a church in Illinois just had a decision handed down by a federal appeals court. Adidas thought it could outrun a church in Zion Illinois, but it appears that they miscalculated the church’s endurance.
In 2009, Adidas applied to register the ADIZERO mark for athletic apparel. Unfortunately…
The v. Any
When it is clear that you need to take responsibility for an obvious inconvenience, it is far better to own “the” inconvenience than apologize for “any” inconvenience, bravo RBC Plaza:
As legal types know full well, “any” leaves a wide open possibility of there actually being “none” — after all, “zero” is…
Does (Real) Life Imitate (Video Game) Art?
The cause and effect relationship between art and culture has been a long-debated topic. Does art depict what actually exists in our culture, or does the art dictate what exists. It’s a classic chicken/egg debate. And this ongoing debate occasionally rears its head in the video game space in the form of criticisms, and even…
Is Your Intent-to-Use Trademark Application Vulnerable?
A common misunderstanding about trademark law involves what is actually necessary in order to “own” a trademark. There are a number of requirements that many companies miss if the company doesn’t do its research or hire an attorney. In fact, a company can file an application to register a mark and obtain a registration, but…