Minnesota is positioned once again to take legislative ownership of the “trademark bullying” debate. Putting aside the serious questions of whether new laws are needed and whether a state as opposed to a federal solution can have any meaningful impact, and despite the federal government’s recent focus on the perceived problem that ended
Trademark Bully
Monster Cable Ordered to Pay Monster Daddy Attorneys Fees in Meritless Appeal
Techdirt has written extensively about why Monster Cable is considered “somewhat famous as a trademark bully.” Numerous comments to a TTABlog post reinforce this view.
One of the examples Mike Masnick over at Techdirt has highlighted is a TTAB case we handled for a Monster Cable victim a few years back, reported here, with…
NFL Thwarts Ownership of Harbowl TM
As many have written about before me, the NFL is quite protective of its rights in the SUPER BOWL trademark, so much so that some think it has earned the pejorative “trademark bully” label, so I spilled a little digital ink on the topic last year:
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Supreme Court Upholds Nike’s Promise to “Break the Wrist, and Walk Away”
Not every day does the United States Supreme Court weigh in on a topic impacting the trademark world, but it did so yesterday in Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., a case illustrating what can happen when a trademark plaintiff wants to pull the plug and end the lawsuit it started in a walkaway (or…
Trademark Civility
About a week ago I had the honor and pleasure of once again presenting the annual trademark review at the 11th Annual Midwest IP Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with good friend and trademark guru Paul Mussell. And happily, TTABlogger John Welch once again graciously contributed the IP Book chapter on the Top Ten TTAB Cases…
Trademark Victims?
Hardly a day goes by without the media reporting on some sort of trademark dispute. Enter the need for a winner and a loser, a bully and a victim.
You know the typical media drill by now, Goliath is the trademark owner and a guilty bully, and David, of course, is an innocent victim, lacking…
Cease and Desist, Please
– Brent Carlson-Lee, President, Open Door Foods
If you’re anything like me, you occasionally muse about being a celebrity.
If I were a movie star, I’d gladly sign autographs – even while at a restaurant with my family.
If I were the author of the hottest business book on the New York Times Best…
Trademark Hooliganism
A day doesn’t go by without my GoogleAlert spotting another online reference to some purported example of “trademark bullying.”
It seems like just about any private assertion of trademark infringement will trigger the use of the term as a very public knee-jerk response.
As you know, we’ve spilled a lot of ink, writing about the…
Godin on Trademark Bullying?
Seth Godin is someone we follow closely here on DuetsBlog, and he has just weighed in on the “trademark bullying” topic.
We haven’t always agreed with his trademark advice, especially his misapprehension of the benefits of federal registration. But, it’s hard to argue with this conclusion: “When a brand becomes a…
Chick-fil-A’s Successful “Eat Mor Chikin” v. “Eat More Kale” USPTO Letter of Protest
As you will recall, we have followed pretty closely Chick-fil-A’s “Eat Mor Chikin” trademark claims against Vermonter Bo Muller-Moore and his “Eat More Kale” trademark:
- Eat More Anything?
- New York Times Covers “Eat More Kale” Trademark Dispute
- Chick-fil-A Goes Stealth in “Eat More Kale” Trademark Dispute?
- Chick-fil-A’s “Eat More” Stealth USPTO Trademark Enforcement Strategy Succeeds
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