Our friend Professor Eric Goldman, over at his Technology and Marketing Law Blog, reported earlier this week that the Google trademark has survived a genericness attack by a fellow named David Elliot. Here is a link to Mr. Elliot’s complaint filed in Arizona federal court back in May of 2012, and here was Martha’s
– Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC
Recently, Steve wrote a piece about the branding at a Saint Paul Vietnamese restaurant named iPho. Pho is a popular, traditional Vietnamese street food – a simple soup made by combining rice noodles and meat in a large bowl filled with aromatic broth. One of the most
– Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC
When I think of Twitter, I think of — it’s really hard to define because we’re still coming up with the vocabulary — but I think it’s defined a new behavior that’s very different than what we’ve seen before.
— Jack Dorsey, Twitter Co-Founder in 2009
My, how
With all the golf coverage of the Masters Tournament and the coveted Green Jacket, this past weekend, it seemed particularly appropriate to report on a recent trademark case involving the miniature variety of golf: Putt-Putt, LLC v. 416 Constant Friendship, LLC (April 5, 2013 D. Md.).
So, I learned two things this weekend, Adam
If you were a Band-Aid brand adhesive bandage, and you were cut, would you protect yourself?
Brent, sorry I couldn’t help myself, I’m still enjoying your Louis Vuitton waffle-maker post.
With that intro, let’s turn another page to the Genericide Watch category, here at DuetsBlog:
In focusing attention on the first item in
Do you suppose the author of this article knows that Ball Park is a federally-registered brand name and trademark, not an unprotectable generic term synonymous with hot dogs and frankfurters? The growing prevalence of lower-case brand styles and visual identity has complicated the answer to this question a bit, I suspect. Nevertheless, we should probably
Well, perhaps more than just about every trademark use guideline in existence, including those offered by the International Trademark Association (INTA) ("NEVER use a trademark as a verb"):
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(television commercial link on Youtube here)
Maybe because you have been following the trademark verbing dialogue here on DuetsBlog and you have learned all
When trademark owners are accused of bullying and shamed in public, a common and knee-jerk defensive response to justify the cease and desist letter or enforcement action is: “We have a legal duty and obligation to police and enforce our trademark rights.” And, some might even go on to say: “If we don’t enforce our
There are many things that serious trademark owners do throughout the lifecycle of a trademark to mitigate risk, protect the valuable goodwill in their underlying brand, and preserve their valuable investment in this important intellectual property asset. Here is a fairly extensive, but certainly not exhaustive, and often forgotten, list of those things:
The Grand Marshal in the Parade of Horribles, at least for some trademark types, is the one who forbids any deviation from the absolute "rule" against using brand names and trademarks as nouns or verbs, a standard "rule" commonly found in trademark use guidelines (only permitting the use of trademarks as adjectives). As I have written