Since November 30, 2021, we’ve anxiously been waiting for the Federal Circuit to decide the Chutter appeal and determine whether the TTAB was correct in lowering the standard for proving trademark fraud from the far more difficult specific intent to deceive the U.S. Trademark Office standard under Bose, to the much easier to
Steve Baird®
View my professional biography
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, “Who owns these brands” and “Did they really register those marks?” To understand the depth of my passion for brands and helping clients achieve their business goals, legally, you must understand that my interest in business and branding goes back to the late 1960s. The very first brand I recall profiting from was Jiffy®. Even before being old enough to deliver papers for the Iowa City Press Citizen, between episodes of Bewitched®, I would bake cupcakes and walk my finished product door-to-door, sampling along the way, of course, throughout our Kimball Road neighborhood, mostly selling them to husbands whose wives didn't bake enough (probably watching Bewitched®), according to them at least. One hundred percent profit margins are easy when you can use the necessary equipment and raw materials directly from Mom's kitchen. Mass producing "hot pads" (pot holders, not real estate) and selling them door-to-door was another favorite childhood business venture at the ripe age of six. Graduating to lawn-mowing age worked well with my paper routes because I could easily see who needed help cutting their grass and, in some cases, avoiding neighborhood ridicule. Yes, you're right, Dad loaned me his Lawn-Boy® mower on weekends, rent-free, and even bought the gasoline (Dad was not brand loyal at all with gasoline, so I have no brand memory there). Another pure profit opportunity. Let's just say that Mom and Dad were generous, unsecured investors in my development and future. Thanks Mom and Dad, I now understand the meaning of overhead and capital improvements! I bucked a lot of family tradition and jokes to become a lawyer and a trademark guru. There is not one lawyer in the family tree, as far as my sister knows (and she would know). Nearly everyone is, or was, a teacher of some kind. That must be where my passion for educating others about the legal implications of branding comes from. Basically, I have been speaking about the legal implications of branding since the early 90s, after permitting my pharmacist’s license to expire (after being a victim of an armed robbery where Dilaudid® was on the top of the gunman’s list of desired controlled substances), and shortly after working for an 86 year old federal judge whose chambers had a nice view of the White House in Washington, D.C. While I’d like to say that the movie My Cousin Vinny inspired me to become a lawyer, it was released two years after I graduated from law school. So, really, I guess it just inspired me to be a better lawyer and leader. For now, you can call me a “thought-leader” in the trademark world, and the thankful leader of a very talented group of creative and insightful lawyers and staff who are dedicated to putting our intellectual property clients in the best possible position to achieve their business goals. When I'm not in the office, "cracking the whip," making sure others in the group keep their bios on this blog short and sweet, working (which isn't to say I'm not still thinking about my clients' businesses), or soaking it up in the hot-tub with my soul-mate, I am a dedicated family man - a.k.a. the chauffeur. Until they reach the driving age, I'll continue to shuttle my four wonderful kids around to their athletic and other events, at which you can find me cheering in the stands.
Trademarks and the First Amendment
Couldn’t be more pleased and thankful to collaborate and share insights on the timely topic of Trademarks, Parody, and the First Amendment, with esteemed Professor of Law Christine Farley during our upcoming Strafford webinar on Tuesday July 25, 2023, at 1 PM ET, check out the details here, hope you can join us!
Two Decades of The IP Book
Time certainly flies while you’re having fun, and for me, the past two decades of serving as an editor and author for The IP Book and also as a planner for the Midwest IP Institute is no exception:
In the 2022 IP Book you’ll find a lot of terrific content, including Tiffany and Molly‘s…
Short and Sweet Wisdom from Seth
Over the weekend, Seth Godin shared some wisdom that resonated, In or out:
Often overlooked is how uncomfortable it is to sit on a fence.
Get in or get out. Wasting time sitting on the fence wastes far more time and emotion than you’d expend committing to something.
I’d add to that sentiment, when…
The New Washington Football Name is “Commanding” Some New Attention
The really big news that commanded attention was back in July 2020, when the NFL franchise near Washington, D.C. announced it would be “retiring the R*dskins name and logo.” You may recall this gem: NEVER Means Forever, Until it Doesn’t.
Honestly, after two seasons of the team using the generic Washington Football…
Rapala Continues Fishing for Attention
Over the past dozen years, we’ve been admiring Rapala’s annual creative billboard campaign that continues to maintain the same eye-catching look and feel.
Love the white canvas, the red stylized Rapala brand name, the Original Floating lure, and a creative and often humorous attention-getting term or phrase in black ink, sandwiched in between (and hooked…
Some Thankful Reflections About 2020
2020 Midwest IP Institute in the Books
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…
Welcome Back to TM Incapability and Merely Informational USPTO Refusals
Welcome back to another edition of Merely Informational and Incapable Marks.
The above neighborhood Applebee’s is on my usual route to going anywhere from our home, so I’m predicting I’ve passed by well more than 10,000 times.
The temporary “Dining Room Open” signage is a recent addition from a few months ago, when Minnesota…
NEVER Means Forever, Until it Doesn’t
Never is supposed to last forever. Forever is never supposed to come to an end. Neither are possible to measure in time, for as long as they continue to be true.
The wait for either to fail, can last for an infinite period of time, until they collide. We have witnessed such a collision during…