-Martha Engel, Attorney

We often ask kids this question: “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  While my trajectory towards lawyering is true, my answer wasn’t always immediately “lawyer.”  I sought something that satisfied my passion for the creative, my critical eye, and my aptitude for math.  For a long time,

Growing up in the 80s, it’s amazing how both fashion and technology have evolved since Scrunchies and Commodore 64s – although a quite separate evolution. I can’t recall a fashionable pager (really, go try to find one), or a chic mp3 player (I had an Archos Jukebox, look at that brick). That all

Much of the success of Apple products can be traced to Apple’s emphasis on design as being equal or greater than the technical advancement of its products.  Talking with a product designer the other day, we both remarked on how often companies do the opposite of Apple – they care more about getting a new

While filling up my gas tank at our local Costco last week I coudn’t resist capturing this photo of pump signage to ask our dear readers a few pointed questions:

Is there any doubt that the automobile depicted in the Costco advertisement is a Corvette Stingray? If so, HiConsumption should resolve any lingering questions.

How

Here is to sharing a photo I took using my iPad on a recent Canadian fishing trip, and yes, there is a trademark story here to share as well, not just a beautiful sunset positioned behind this ATV tire.

In my purchase of automobile tires over the years, one of the key selling points has

Jeffrey Stone and Brett Klein, Patent Attorneys, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A.

The design patent is perceived by many designers and patent attorneys as being a relatively weak and impotent patent protection mechanism as compared with the better-respected utility patent. It is typically thought that design patents are only useful in protecting against exact

If the "Soup Nazi" were employed as a Trademark Examining Attorney at the USPTO, he might be heard crabbing at the makers of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, were they to attempt to register or claim as a trademark the shape of their "new" beer glass from 2007, now almost four years old: "No trademark

Schering-Plough Healthcare, owner of the MiraLAX brand — the top-selling OTC oral laxative ($360 Million in OTC sales since launching in February 2007) — has pulled out all of the available stops and then some, in a pre-Thanksgiving Day federal district court action brought in the District of Delaware, asserting a variety of intellectual property and unfair competition claims under both federal and state law. Bloomberg.com’s report on the case from yesterday is here. In addition, here is a link to the Complaint, with Exhibits A, B, and C.

As is typical when the manufacturer of a national brand wants to stop what it perceives as unfair retail store brand competition, Schering-Plough brought suit not against either of its retail customers Kroger or CVS — despite both being mentioned in the complaint — instead, it sued Perrigo the private label manufacturer who provided the competitive products bearing those retailers’ well-known, if not famous store brand names.

Perrigo says it is "the world’s largest manufacturer of OTC pharmaceutical products for the store brand market." Here is how Perrigo describes its business model:

The Perrigo Company manufactures products that compare to national brand products such as Tylenol®, Advil® or ONE-A-DAY®. For example, Tylenol® has acetaminophen as an active ingredient and is available in a store’s analgesic (pain relief) section. Store brand acetaminophen is located right next to the national brand acetaminophen, offering the same active ingredient (acetaminophen) and the same relief.

Store brands and national brand products are both manufactured to meet or exceed quality standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Store brand products are sold by retail stores under their own labels and compete with nationally advertised brands. All Perrigo products meet or exceed quality standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Store brand OTC and nutritional products have saved consumers many millions of dollars in health-care costs over the past six years.

Although the national brand owner’s strategy of not suing its retail customer directly may be attractive from a business relations perspective, unless the case is promptly resolved on an amicable basis, it will be hard to avoid having representatives of Kroger, CVS, and other retail customers of Schering-Plough, put on the "hot seat" in discovery depositions to determine who created, controlled, and/or approved the "look and feel" of the store brand packaging. It remains to be seen how this strategy will play out here for Schering-Plough.Continue Reading MiraLAX Won’t “Loosen Up” Against OTC Store Brand Competition