Trademark fraud claims aren’t going away, despite the fact that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has not found fraud in a single trademark opposition or cancellation since the Federal Circuit decided In re Bose in 2009, rejecting the prior “knew or should have known” standard in favor of the much more difficult
August 2012
Billion Dollar Baby – Apple and Design Patents
It’s not too often that the media takes note of a patent dispute, but the Apple v. Samsung dispute has certainly gotten a lot of news attention. Probably because almost 40% of American cell phone subscribers have a phone made by one or the other in their pockets. After a tumultuous trial, on Friday,…
EA Sports Gives Up Its Exclusive License to Make College Football Games
– Derek Allen, Attorney –
For many avid sports gamers, December 13, 2004 is a day that will live in infamy. On that date, EA Sports, makers of the longstanding Madden franchise, inked a deal with the NFL that would allow EA, and only EA, to produce video games depicting real NFL teams and players. …
Where there’s little light, we find big design hope
– Aaron Keller, Managing Principal, Capsule
Whether it’s a natural tendency to write the underdog story or just a desire to see big get crushed by little, we tend to favor the small over the large. The economics of change have provided plenty of stories for us and plenty of small heroes to back.
For…
Marketing 101: Knowing Your Audience
Blake Shelton is a brilliant marketer. Whether or not country music speaks to you, for anyone who attended his concert at the Minnesota State Fair this past weekend, it would be hard to deny the chemistry he perfected with his audience. I’ve never witnessed a better concert from the perspective of the storytelling used to…
Microsoft’s Brand Refresh Cements Color Trend?
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Over the years, we have documented a number of branding trends, from blue ovals, to the 3D trend, to our AlphaWatch. With its recently announced new logo, Microsoft appears to be bucking all trends. Without further ado, here it is:
Did you catch that? I know. Blink and you…
The Uneven Split
Believe it or not, such a phenomenon exists and can be a trap for the unwary. Collaboration is what brings about the best ideas. But who owns those ideas and how does a person gracefully discuss the ownership topic with their collaborator? The answer, very carefully and, hopefully, in the beginning of the relationship.
Under…
Expanding into Vegetarian Products Lands Starbucks in Hot Water
Starbucks acquired the organic juice maker Evolution Fresh Inc. (“Evolution Fresh”). After doing so, Starbucks devised a business plan to expand both the type of products offered and expansion into restaurants. Specifically, Evolution Fresh began selling various food products, including vegetarian and vegan foods, along with juices at restaurants. Starbucks also launched a new logo…
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…
Showing What’s in a Slogan?
Seth Godin seems to suggest the most important element of a slogan is living up to the inherent promise in it — the underlying story of the brand.
I suppose that is hard to dispute; a catchy set of words that isn’t true to the brand doesn’t help, instead the noticeable disconnect probably hurts the…