It’s been a while . . . about seven months now.
As you’ll see, a few things have happened since April, when we last left you with these gems on the topic of trademark bullying: Stop Bullying the Entrepreneurs, What does Entrepreneur Mean, Anyway?, and Public Shaming is Not the Solution to Trademark
An NFL team and an NBA team are duking it out over trademarks with the word “UPRISING” to be used with eSports.
What is eSports you may ask? It is professional competitive video gaming. Anyone with a teenager has probably heard of Fortnite. Fortnite is a world-wide phenomenon. Over three nights during TwitchCon (which is a Fortnite competition), Fortnite averaged around 65,000 viewers per day across Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. However, there are also numerous other video games such as Hearthstone, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Star Craft II and Overwatch, among others. Indeed, Overwatch is related to the trademark dispute involving the owner of the New England Patriots.
The dispute involves the marks BOSTON UPRISING and NORTH UPRISING. Specifically, last month, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft’s company, Kraft Group, filed a Notice of Opposition against an application filed by the NBA’s Toronto Raptors for the mark NORTH UPRISING (stylized) in connection with clothing and other merchandise that is to be used with video games. The Kraft Group alleges that the stylized mark in the application is similar in stylization and font of its applied for stylized mark for BOSTON UPRISING.Continue Reading The New England Patriots Are Ready To Battle Off The Field
Florida start-up entity BAD MOMS, LLC beat the producer of the movie with the same name to the punch! Specifically, the company sued the producer for declaratory judgment and an injunction preventing the movie producer from using the mark in connection with any of the Florida company’s goods and services or those related thereto. Both
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
The trademark ST. ROCH MARKET is at the heart of a dispute in New Orleans (aka NOLA). The City of New Orleans is battling in court with the current lessee of the building associated with the trademark.
ROCH MARKET has been associated with a popular market in New Orleans since 1875. Prior to Hurricane Katrina,
The parent company of fashion giant Coach found out that there is a lot to a brand name.
Coach’s strategic plan was to expand into a specialty retailer that would branch out beyond the COACH® brand. To accomplish this strategy, Coach acquired both snazzy shoe company Stuart Weitzman and trendy Kate Spade & Co.
In
The four year saga ended (at least for now) with Tiffany & Co. being awarded for its vigorous fight to maintain its trademark and protect against genericide. As previously reported, Tiffany & Co. filed suit against Costco Corporation (“Costco”) to protect its trademark with respect to engagement rings on Valentine’s Day in 2013. (Read my
Although a precedential decision allowing a “Family of Marks” to be considered in the context of an ex parte prosecution of an application that has been refused under Section 2(e)(1) to show acquired distinctiveness, this ruling could not help Little Caesars overcome the refusal of its application for the mark “DEEP!DEEP! DISH PIZZA.”
Because “Deep
It’s that time of year again, the Midwest IP Institute is back in action for the 14th year in a row, and if you’re attending you’ll receive this little gem, the 13th Edition of The IP Book:
So, don’t miss it, Gerard Rogers, Chief Judge of the TTAB will provide us with News from the
I had the great fortune to attend the recent FUSE conference held in Chicago for design and branding professionals, and see Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock speak.
My friend on the left is Kitty Hart from Capsule, who blogged about FUSE in the post entitled “Day 3: A Morning of Design Heroes.” My