Trademarks

The Scotch Whisky Associaton opposed an application to regiter the mark BURNS NIGHT for "Malt whisky; Whiskey" on two grounds: geographically deceptive misdescriptiveness under Section 2(e)(3), and deptiveness under Section 2(a). The Board had denied Applicant ASW's Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, but on ... Read More

The USPTO issued a trifusal(TM) for the proposed mark CAVIAR & CASHMERE for "non medicated skin care and related personal care and cosmetic products," finding the mark to be deceptive under Section 2(a), or alternatively, not registrable under Sections 2(e)(1) and 6(a) without disclaimer of the deceptively misdescriptive term CAVIAR. ... Read More

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Justice (Retd.) Prabha Sridevan on the recent Bill moved by the Government in the Parliament proposing to shut down IPAB and the way forward. Justice Sridevan needs no introduction – she served as a judge of the Madras High Court ... Read More

Pooria Shahin applied to register the mark BEENDER (in standard character form) for "computer application software for mobile phones, namely, software for social introduction and dating," but Match Group, LLC opposed, claiming a likelihood of confusion with, and likely dilution of, its registered mark TINDER (standard form) for overlapping goods. ... Read More

In our view they should, but the General Court held otherwise on January 27, 2021 in Case T-817/19, basically finding that coincidence in a non-distinctive element will still lead to a finding of likelihood of confusion. OmniVision GmbH, owner of an EUTM “HYLO-VISION” registered, among others, for medical preparations, filed ... Read More

On February 9, 2021, THE Incorporated – better known as “The Tragically Hip” or “The Hip” – filed a Statement of Claim (the “Claim”) in Canada’s Federal Court, alleging trademark infringement, copyright infringement, passing off, and other causes of action... Read more ... Read More

Heard it through the grapevine and saw in the causelist that Retd. Justice Manmohan Singh is still holding hearings in the IPAB and passing orders. Just a couple of days ago we reported that the application for Justice Singh’s extension as the IPAB Chairperson was rejected by the Supreme Court. ... Read More

The Board said "No" to the USPTO's refusal to register the phrase SAY YES TO WHAT'S NEXT for clothing, religious books, and "Entertainment and educational services, namely, the presentation of seminars, workshops and panel discussions, and ongoing television and radio shows all in the field of women aging and how ... Read More

In Part I of this three-part guest post tracing the birth and early life of the Indian Trade Marks Register, Aparajita discussed the first phase of legislative activity. In Part II (here) and Part III (below) of the post, she examines the change in commercial opinion from ‘no registration’ to ‘pro registration’. Aparajita ... Read More

In Part I of this three-part guest post tracing the birth and early life of the Indian Trade Marks Register, Aparajita discussed the first phase of legislative activity. In Part II (below) and Part III (here) of the post, she examines the change in commercial opinion from ‘no registration’ to ‘pro registration’. ... Read More

We’re pleased to bring to you a three-part guest post by our former blogger Aparajita Lath, tracing the birth and early life of the Indian Trade Marks Register. Aparajita is a lawyer based in Bangalore. Her previous posts on the blog can be viewed here, here and here. The Grand ... Read More

By La-Vaughnda A. Taylor Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News (including the Coronavirus): Entertainment 'Chappelle's Show' Returns to Netflix After Its Star Gets Paid Just over two months after it was pulled at his ... Read More

Vintage brands – generally well-known marks that have been phased out but live on in consumers’ memories – face the challenge that trademarks that are not used are cancelled. The CJEU judgment of 22 October 2020 in the testarossa case (C‑720/18 and C‑721/18) maintains the generous line from the ... Read More

Topical Highlight Breaking: Supreme Court Dismisses Application Seeking Extension of Justice Manmohan Singh as IPAB Chairperson Praharsh informed our readers that this week the Supreme Court dismissed the AIPPI application seeking another extension to the tenure of the incumbent IPAB Chairperson. The application for extension was a part of a ... Read More

This is about how a hugely successful Austrian furniture giant turned the wheels a bit too far trying to save taxes through restructuring and licensing. An Austrian story, which, however, could probably have taken place anywhere in the European Union.   In a judgment of 27 November 2020 (case ref. ... Read More

image from here Just hours ago we broke the story about the Supreme Court judgement (pdf) dismissing the application seeking extension of the incumbent IPAB Chairperson and now we are in knowledge of an immensely interesting Draft Bill (pdf) introduced in the Lok Sabha which ... Read More

Hitting the (seemingly) final nail and ending the trail of extension requests, the Supreme Court via its order yesterday (12/02/2021 (pdf) ) dismissed the application seeking another extension to the tenure of the incumbent IPAB Chairperson. The application for extension was filed by the AIPPI (aka the International Association for ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman NHL Drafts Amazon for Data Upgrades as Sports Go High Tech, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/nhl-drafts-amazon-for-data-upgrades-as-sports-go-high-tech-1 Canada: Is Single-Game Sports Betting Gaining Legal Traction In Canada?, https://www.mondaq.com/canada/gaming/1035622/is-single-game-sports-betting-gaining-legal-traction-in-canada Q&A: Legal expert on the Brown Act case against Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/10/qa-legal-expert-on-the-brown-act-case-against-santa-clara-valley-athletic-league/ Why College Athletes Must Prepare For The Name, Image, ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman Theatrical unions unveil diversity, equity and inclusion agenda, https://broadwaynews.com/2021/02/11/theatrical-unions-lay-out-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-agenda/ 100 Broadway People to Follow on Twitter, https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BroadwayWorlds-100-People-To-Follow-on-Twitter-in-2021-20210210 'Within a matter of hours, your entire industry is gone, https://finance.yahoo.com/video/within-matter-hours-entire-industry-201401565.html An innovative Georgetown lab looks to theater to quell political fires, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/georgetown-lab-empathy-theater/2021/02/11/ddd67580-6a44-11eb-9f80-3d7646ce1bc0_story.html Broadway's Rocky Road to Recovery, http://www.ourtownny.com/city-arts/broadway-s-rocky-road-to-recovery-BY1504300 New ... Read More

After a long battle Saule LLC, a manufacturer of motocross and extreme cycling equipment, has managed to register the designation as a trademark in Russia. Saule LLC uses the slogan “RIDE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT” and a graphic designation “100%” as a trademark in the USA and many other countries. ... Read More

The Board affirmed refusals to register the two product configuration marks shown below (claimed design shown in solid lines), for "“actuators for rocker switches," on the ground that Applicant Carling Technologies failed to prove that the designs had acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f). Although Carling's design patent ensured exclusive use ... Read More

In its first precedential opinion of 2021, the TTAB dismissed the United States Olympic Committee's opposition to registration of the mark PIERRE DE COUBERTIN for various goods in classes 3, 9, 14, 16, 25, and 28, including perfume, sunglasses, jewelry, luggage, clothing, and sporting goods.The Board found that the USOC ... Read More

The TTAB affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark ECOMANSION (in standard character form) on the Supplemental Register for "House building and repair; Housing services, namely, development of real property, namely, repair, improvement, and new construction," on the ground of genericness. Applicant Lance King contended that the evidence of ... Read More

Famous young pop singer, Aya Nakamura has sold millions of albums and made a name for herself in France and Europe-wide. Recently, her accomplishments extended to the IP field as well when Kyo Jino, a fashion designer accused Aya on social media of “stealing her creativity” to which Aya responded: ... Read More

In a long-running battle over the mark IPAD. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the entry of summary judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [TTABlogged here], in favor of Apple on all claims asserted by RxD Media and on ... Read More

Since our breakdown in March 2020 of Justice Katzmann’s ruling in the Federal Court in favour of American burger chain In-N-Out in its bitter trademark dispute with local Australian company Hashtag Burgers Pty Ltd of DOWN-N-OUT (now Plan B) notoriety, another round of this sizzling hot battle of the burgers has ... Read More

Join Josh Escovedo and Jessica Corpuz in this one-hour webinar about Intellectual Property Law and will specifically address The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Program Summary: The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021—arising from the December 2020 stimulus bill—made significant changes to intellectual property law, unbeknownst to many practitioners. This webinar will focus on the ... Read More

The crucial date 31 December 2020 has passed and we are now a month into 2021. Even though, in the last two months, the relationship between the UK and the EU had highly dramatic moments, from an IP point of view, things went smoothly and with an incredible velocity, that ... Read More

On 20 January 2021, the General Court handed down its judgment in the slogan case brought by Oatly AB against the EUIPO’s refusal to register “IT’S LIKE MILK BUT MADE FOR HUMANS” (Case T‑253/20). The General Court sided with Oatly and found that this slogan was sufficiently distinctive to be ... Read More

The TTAB recently decided the appeals from the three Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusals summarized below. Let's see how you do with them, keeping in mind that in the past several years the Board affirmed, by my calculation, just about 9 out of 10 of these refusals. Answer(s) will be ... Read More