AlphaWatch

Food Fight in NYC!

By Tiffany Blofield on March 21, 2019

Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Famous Marks, Food, Idea Protection, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

Famous celebrity chef Chloe Coscarelli (“Chloe”) and Tom Colicchio (“Colicchio”) started a new pop-up restaurant called “Supernatural” that is in the midst of a “food fight” or lawsuit with owners of the By Chloe restaurant Chloe originally founded but no longer has an ownership interest in. After receiving cease and desist letter from BCH Hospitality…

Q and A: Q, Another Single Letter Brand?

By Steve Baird® on February 24, 2019

Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Marketing, Trademarks

Welcome to another edition of Single Letter Brands. This one was uncovered in the far southwest corner of the country, if you haven’t been, I highly recommend a visit:

Q is a casino/resort near Yuma, Arizona. Here’s a question, what does Q stand for?

In this context, near Yuma, we’re not talking this Q…

Beyoncé Done Battling Over Use Of Feyoncé

By Tiffany Blofield on January 24, 2019

Posted in Agreements, AlphaWatch, Branding, Civil Procedure, Fair Use, Famous Marks, Fashion, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

You may recall that DuetsBlog informed you in May of 2016 (here) that Beyoncé filed suit in New York federal court against a company and its owners who were using the mark Feyoncé on apparel and other products, such as mugs. She has now dismissed the lawsuit—likely based on a settlement (although the…

UGG Is Not Synonymous With A Type of Boot

By Tiffany Blofield on September 27, 2018

Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Fashion, Genericide, Idea Protection, Infringement, International, Law Suits, Marketing, Patents, Trademarks

The popular UGG® branded sheepskin boots are at the heart of a dispute in the Northern District of Illinois. Deckers Outdoor Corp. (“Deckers”) owns 29 federal registrations for the trademark UGG in connection with numerous goods and services, including footwear, clothing, wallets, passport covers, plush toys and retail store services. The company also has four…

When Less is More

By Steve Baird® on January 16, 2017

Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Food, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Trademarks, Truncation

Love the simplicity and honesty of this sign, captured on vacation, in a cozy crepe spot (had to get out of my chair and walk across the dining room to read the smaller print, well worth the steps):

As Seth recently noted, there can be room for improvement when it comes to making signs…

Does a Commodity Ever Need to Apologize?

By Steve Baird® on September 5, 2016

Posted in AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Genericide, Goodwill, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Trademarks

On this welcome Labor Day, a few different thoughts converged for me, so please allow me to answer my own question in the title of this post, starting by explaining the below photo:

After repeated diversions from a particular moving stairway a/k/a escalator to the far less convenient elevators in an unnamed downtown Minneapolis office…

Single-Letter Trademark Battles: Who Gets the W for “W”?

By Duets Guest Blogger on March 5, 2015

Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Fair Use, Infringement, Social Media, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks, TTAB, USPTO

-Wes Anderson, Attorney

How much trouble can a double-U make? If you’ve been following this blog over the years, you know the answer: quite a lot.

This blog has written extensively on the trials and tribulations that may accompany single-letter trademark applications, and the letter “W” in particular. You may then conclude, quite correctly, that…

A Consequence of Curious Cursive TM Script

By Steve Baird® on June 2, 2014

Posted in AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Food, Marketing, Sight, Trademarks

Let’s suppose you’ve been asked to search and clear the name of a bar, without seeing the design mark in the upper right and lower left hand corners of this photo (from a recent trip to Boston):

When I first saw this design logo, I thought the name was probably W Bar, so you know…

Here’s Another D-Word

By Steve Baird® on January 20, 2014

Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Branding, Marketing, Sight, Trademarks

Here is a blast from the past: The D-Word: What Ever You Do, Don’t “Describe” Your Brand!

And, here is something a little more recent that I found on a recent business trip to Las Vegas:

So, let’s file this one in the AlphaWatch file.

There appears to be no tiring of single-letter branding.…

The R-Word, Postponing the Inevitable

By Steve Baird® on October 7, 2013

Posted in Almost Advice, AlphaWatch, Articles, Branding, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks, TTAB, USPTO

As many anxiously await the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) decision in Blackhorse v. Pro Football, Inc., a trademark cancellation action seeking to revoke six federal service mark registrations containing the R-Word (issued between 1967 and 1990), the pressure is mounting for the NFL team located near our Nation’s Capital to stop…

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