Hearty thanks to Colette Durst, Stephen Lee, and Susan Perera, for generously sharing their insights and perspectives about trademark nominative fair use.

By all accounts, the Midwest IP Institute was a great success this year despite the limitations of delivering knowledge in a virtual format, thanks Zoom.

Hearty thanks to Draeke

A recent advertisement caught my ear because it involved financial services offered by a guy named Charles Hughes a/k/a Chuck Hughes and the catchy marketing phrase Trade Like Chuck:

It instantly reminded me of a piece I wrote in 2010 called: Exposing Two-Face Brands. One of the branding truncation examples I wrote about

We’re always looking forward, but every once in a while we look in the rear-view mirror and become amazed at how far we’ve come since our humble beginnings a short nine years ago.

Well, it’s almost time to celebrate another birthday here at DuetsBlog, and if we make it to March 5th, Duey

–Susan Perera, Attorney

As the year draws to an end, so does my time here at DuetsBlog.  After almost 3 years of blogging and working as an attorney at Winthrop & Weinstine, I have decided to transition to an in-house trademark opportunity. While I am excited to take on this great new adventure, I am

–Susan Perera, Attorney

You see it quite often, phrases like “The Best Car in America” or “America’s Favorite Restaurant” used in advertising.  The Trademark Office does not consider the truth of these statements when considering an application for such a trademark  (which could possibly run afoul with false advertising); instead it focuses on the laudatory

–Susan Perera, Attorney

Over a year ago, Steve and I authored a piece in the Minnesota Business Journal discussing two-faced brands, these are brands that use both a formal trademark and a less formal, often truncated, trademark.

Since then we have seen many brands move away from their historical trademark uses towards shorter truncated trademarks

–Susan Perera, Attorney

One aspect of trademark law that we haven’t discussed here at DuetsBlog is FDA approval of trademarks for pharmaceuticals.  While there are certainly many benefits to federal trademark protection (and we would recommend seeking federal registration as the best way to solidify the broadest rights in your mark) trademark owners can choose