–Dan Kelly, Attorney
I have just made the happy discovery that the good folks over at FairWinds Partners, operators of the Domain Name Strategy blog, have another blog called gTLD Strategy. In this post this week, they have hinted that there may be more “.brand” applicants in this round of gTLD applications than
–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney
Today ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, better known as the company that basically runs the Internet, begins accepting applications for generic top level domains. Most users know top level domains such as .com, .org, .edu…and even .xxx. Now, under this new program, organizations can apply to use
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently issued a precedential decision upholding the Trademark Office’s refusal to register five applications for the mark .MUSIC in connection with a variety of goods and services, holding that .MUSIC is merely descriptive of the goods and services. A PDF copy of the decision is here
There was a time when a certain kind of small business owner — strapped for cash — with a meager promotional budget, easily could be tempted to adopt a “clever” name, as a “short-cut,” to “play off” a well-known, iconic brand, but in the end, he or she probably was convinced by counsel that doing
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Yesterday, Laura provided some good marketing reasons for grabbing your company’s brand name(s) and/or trademark(s) on various social media sites while the marks and brands are still available. I am not a marketing professional, but I agree with everything that she has said, and I’m here to provide some “legal” reasons for
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Time is running out to take defensive action for opting registered trademarks out of the forthcoming “.xxx” domain space. Depending upon the registrar that you use to do this, an opt-out application is due by October 28, 2011, will cost around $300, and will prohibit third parties from registering opted-out trademarks as
–Susan Perera, Attorney
Earlier this week ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved a major change to top-level Internet domains (TLDs).
Soon we will no longer be limited to the standard 22 top-level domains including .com, .org, and .net. In fact, your brand could soon be its own top-level domain. For
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
But for seeing a billboard last week like the banner below, it would never have occurred to me that cement producers really needed to advertise, but the Portland Cement Association has impeccable timing, as it is pothole season in Minnesota, and billboards like this are up all around the pothole-ridden Twin Cities.
—Karl Schweikart, partner and co-creative director, 45 Degrees/Minneapolis
It’s validating to discover that branding is not a topic just for designers to geek on. As a partner in a design firm focused on brand identity work, I find the community Duets has pulled together to be a vibrant and informative group to
Apparently has led to the creation of a new blog entitled Trademark Bully — Kindly Back Off!
The TrademarkBully.com domain was registered just days ago, by someone who has shielded their identity (doesn’t real blogging require transparency?) and it resolves to a WordPress Blog, with a couple of initial posts from yesterday.
It also reveals