For the past couple years, General Mills has battled to register a yellow color mark in connection with its Cheerios® breakfast cereal. More specifically, back in 2015, General Mills applied to register (Serial No. 86757390) the mark shown below, described as “the color yellow appearing as the predominant uniform background color on product packaging
TTAB
“Not So Fast,” Mr. THRILLED Daniel Snyder
Lee Corso (former coach and ESPN football analyst) frequently utters this famous sports media catchphrase on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program: “Not so fast, my friend!”
The first three words of that phrase come to mind upon hearing that THRILLED Daniel Snyder (majority owner of the NFL football franchise nearest the Nation’s Capitol…
MLB to Oppose (maybe) Blizzard’s Overwatch League Logo
If you’re a video game fan like me, you’re probably familiar with Blizzard Entertainment and their assortment of popular games, such as Starcraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. One of Blizzard’s newest games is Overwatch, a multi-player, first-person shooter game. One aspect of this game is the Overwatch League, a series of tournaments…
MLB: A Monopoly on “Baseball”?
The weather is finally getting warmer up here in Minnesota and it’s a great time to watch baseball, as I’ve been doing frequently of late. It’s been fun watching my home team, the Twins, enjoy a strong start to the season (anything above .500 is huge after our record-breaking disappointment last year), with our younger…
Song Titles and Trademarks: The Eagle(s) Have Landed
Regardless of whether you’re a fan of “classic rock,” there are some songs that everybody knows. The song Hotel California by the Eagles is one of those songs. Not everyone likes the Eagles (looking at you, Dude), but most people at least like Hotel California. So it’s no surprise that the Eagles want to…
Sonic v. Supersonic Coffee v. AKA Coffee: Bullied to a better brand?
A specialty coffee roastery in San Francisco, Supersonic Coffee, has decided to rebrand to the name AKA Coffee, as reported yesterday. The impetus for the rebrand was an opposition at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) by the national fast-food chain Sonic, against Supersonic Coffee’s trademark application for the word mark SUPERSONIC. …
Michigan v. M22: The Road Sign Trademark Battle
If you’re ever driving north through Michigan, particularly during the autumn leaf season, I highly recommend taking the popular “scenic route,” that is, the route bordering the shore of Lake Michigan along the Leelanau Peninsula, following State Highway M-22. Last year,…
The USPTO Says “Yes” But the TTB Says “No” To LSD
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Government approval of commercial speech has been a hot topic of discussion by trademark nerds here and elsewhere in light of recent decisions regarding the Redskins and The Slants marks. As those decisions proceed up through the appeal channels to the Supreme Court, attention has been drawn to whether or not a…
Consent or Not, No Trademark Registration for Brewer’s TIME TRAVELER BLONDE Mark
-Martha Engel, Attorney
When an application has been refused registration in view of another’s prior filed mark, one way to resolve the issue is through a consent agreement wherein the registrant consents to the registration and the parties set out the reasons why the parties believe that there is no likelihood of consumer confusion between…
The Board Lends a Blow to Celebrities
The celebrity known as will.i.am from the musical group the Black Eyed Peas sought to register three marks for “I AM” in connection with cosmetics, cell phones, artificial eyelashes, sunglasses, and brass wrist cuff bracelets, among other goods.
In three precedential opinions,the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) refused to register these marks based on…