Trademarks

While Shakespeare may have wondered “what is in a name?”, the executives at Peloton believe that the trademark SPIN is of great importance. Last month (February, 2021), Peloton filed petitions to cancel the trademarks SPIN and SPINNING for physical fitness instruction and for stationary exercise bicycles on the grounds that ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman Actors' Equity Slams New York City's "Open Culture" Outdoor Performance Plan, https://deadline.com/2021/03/actors-equity-association-open-culture-plan-new-york-city-wage-safety-issues-1234706412/ Offstage Tempest at American Shakespeare Center, https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/03/04/an-offstage-tempest-at-american-shakespeare-center/ COVID and theater: Daniel Fish, Culture Clash reflect on shutdown, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-03-02/covid-theater-shutdown-anniversary-daniel-fish-culture-clash With Broadway still dark due to Covid, actors find work 10,000 miles away in Australia, https://www.cnn.com/style/article/broadway-covid-sydney-australia-intl-hnk/index.html Democracy ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman LSU football: Les Miles was banned from being with co-eds, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/03/04/es-miles-banned-contacting-co-eds-after-probe/6918204002/ Supreme Court Brief In Alston Case Should Make The NCAA Very Concerned, https://abovethelaw.com/2021/03/supreme-court-brief-in-alston-case-should-make-the-ncaa-very-concerned/ Overtime Is Going To Start Paying Top HS Basketball Talent, https://www.outkick.com/overtime-is-going-to-start-paying-top-hs-basketball-talent-6-figure-salaries/ Former NFL Player Kellen Winslow II Sentenced To 14 Years, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973541706/former-nfl-pro-bowler-kellen-winslow-ii-sentenced-to-14-years-for-sex-crimes Tokyo ... Read More

Image from here The issue of IP protection of jewellery has hardly been discussed or adjudicated upon in India. Generally, it is understood that the sketch of the jewellery design can be protected as artistic work under copyright law, while the actual appearance of the ... Read More

Background On 1st March 2021, an updated version of the EUIPO Guidelines for examination of EU Trade Marks entered into force. Changes can be seen in the ‘track changes’ version. This reveals extensive revision throughout. As these changes are, inter alia, intended to align the Office’s procedures with recent decisions ... Read More

The Supreme Court's booking.com decision taught us that a proposed mark comprising a generic term and the gTLD ".com" is not automatically generic, but may be registrable depending on consumer perception. This applicant sought to register, on the Supplemental Register, the THE CONSUMER PROTECTION FIRM in standard form (FIRM disclaimed) and ... Read More

Retailer allegedly created knockoff goods and acted as more than a hands-off intermediary. Australia-based online retailer Redbubble, Inc., could be directly liable for third-party sellers’ infringement of trademarks owned by the Ohio State University, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has held. Unlike online retailers or auction houses that ... Read More

The TTAB recently decided the appeals from the three Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusals. At least one of the refusals was reversed. Which one(s)? [Answer will be found in the first comment.]In re Ubican Global Licensing, LLC, Application Serial No. 88731594 (February 24, 2021) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge ... Read More

As widely reported in the media, and shared via social media posts, the legal team of BigBasket sent a ‘cease and desist letter’ to Daily Basket on 17th February, 2021 alleging infringement of their trademark. The disparity in the sizes of both the companies was immediately evident to everyone: BigBasket ... Read More

The Trademark Reporter has published its latest Annual Review of U.S. Trademark Cases: "The Seventy-Third Year of Administration of the Lanham Act of 1946," by Theodore H. Davis, Jr. and yours truly, John L. Welch. (download pdf here).In his Introduction, Ted Davis calls this "a time of great reckoning in ... Read More

The Trademark Reporter has published its latest Annual Review of U.S. Trademark Cases: "The Seventy-Third Year of Administration of the Lanham Act of 1946," by Theodore H. Davis, Jr. and yours truly, John L. Welch. [download pdf here].In his Introduction, Ted Davis calls this "a time of great reckoning in ... Read More

©2021. Published in Landslide, Vol. 13, No. 3, January/February 2021, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without ... Read More

In a case "on all fours" with the Board's recent Stanley Bros. decision (TTABlogged here), the Board affirmed a refusal to register the purported mark CB2GO for “dietary beverage supplements for human consumption in liquid and dry mix form for therapeutic purposes; all of the foregoing containing CBD." The Board ... Read More

By Angela Peco Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News: Entertainment Settlement Reached in Suit Accusing James Franco of Sexual Misconduct Two former students have dropped their claims against Franco but terms of the settlement ... Read More

In the shortest precedential decision in recent memory, the Board rejected this applicant's attempt to expressly abandon its application "without prejudice" after the Board had issued a final decision affirming the refusal to register applicant's mark. In a mere four pages, the Board pointed out that the purported abandonment ... Read More

Thematic Highlight A Draft “Open” IP Syllabus In this post, Swaraj shared the first draft version of an ‘Open’ IP Syllabus that he along with a small team of researchers has worked on in the last few months. The syllabus is aimed to contain materials that are legally and publicly ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman Puma Sued For Declaring War On Olympics Trademarks, https://abovethelaw.com/2021/02/puma-sued-for-declaring-war-on-olympics-trademarks/ Bill introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran would allow college athlete endorsement deals, https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/30957361/bill-introduced-sen-jerry-moran-allow-athlete-endorsement-deals New California College Sports Bill Would Actually Hurt Schools In The State, https://abovethelaw.com/2021/02/new-california-college-sports-bill-would-actually-hurt-schools-in-the-state/ Patriots Trade Secrets At Issue in Bielema, https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2021/patriots-trade-secrets-1234623485/ Artemi Panarin Accusation Leave ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman Lincoln Center to create outdoor performance spaces this spring, https://broadwaynews.com/2021/02/25/lincoln-center-to-create-outdoor-performance-spaces-this-spring/ Arts, Entertainment and Recreation in New York City, https://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/osdc/arts-entertainment-and-recreation-new-york-city-recent-trends-and-impact-covid-19 New York City's Arts and Recreation Employment Down 66%, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/arts/nyc-arts-recreation-employment.html California Lost 175,000 'Creative Economy' Jobs, Study Finds, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/arts/california-arts-funding.html Milwaukee Rep announces reopening for live theater in April, ... Read More

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Tee-Tee-Ā-Bee) has scheduled five (V) oral hearings for the month of March 2021. The hearings will be held via video conference. Briefs and other papers for each case may be found at TTABVUE via the links provided.March 11, 2021 - 10 AM: In re ... Read More

Despite the plethora of materials online, any student, researcher or professor would know that access to scholarly information is a lot more difficult than what it should be. Most of the time, if you’re serious about research, the ‘research’ journey is more about how many paywalls you can climb (legally ... Read More

The TTAB recently decided the appeals from the three Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusals summarized below. Actually, two involved disclaimer requirements. One of the refusals was reversed. Which one? [Answer will be found in the first comment.]In re Pan American Properties, Corp., Application Serial No. 88277015 (February 10, 2021) [not ... Read More

The USPTO refused to register the mark MS. INTERNATIONAL for beauty pageant services featuring women "26 years of age and up" [INTERNATIONAL disclaimed], finding a likelihood of confusion with the registered mark MISS INTERNATIONAL for beauty pageant services featuring "single women" [two registrations, INTERNATIONAL disclaimed]. The Board found that the ... Read More

The Supreme Court has ruled that the family having the last name of Ørsted must tolerate and co-exist with the commercial use of ØRSTED. The judgement states that the energy company has the right to register and use several trademarks, domains and company names including or consisting of ØRSTED. The ... Read More

The USPTO refused to register the mark QUERCUS COFFEE for coffee [COFFEE disclaimed], finding a likelihood of confusion with the registered mark QUERCUS for wine. Not surprisingly, the Board found the marks to be "highly similar." But what about the goods? Are wine and coffee related? In re Quercus Coffee ... Read More

By Travis Marmara Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News: Entertainment Morgan Wallen Holds No. 1 Slot Again Following Use of Racial Slur Earlier this month, Morgan Wallen was shown on camera casually yelling an ... Read More

In my role as a trademark thought leader (LOL!), I recommend two recent articles that caught my interest and I think will catch yours. Professor Christine Haight Farley of American University's Washington College of Law explains why she is less than thrilled with the Supreme Court's "booking.com" decision. Professors James ... Read More

Topical Highlight Justice Prabha Sridevan on Govt’s Proposal to Shut Down IPAB and the Way Forward In this guest post,  Justice (Retd.) Prabha Sridevan notes that the Government’s proposal to scrap the IPAB is a welcome change. She argues that the functioning of the IPAB makes the two ostensible reasons for ... Read More

By, Bennett Liebman Australia, with low covid rates, is open for theater business again, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/australia-theaters-reopening-covid/2021/02/18/568f08a2-7062-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html Broadway stars in 2021 Time 100 Next List, https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/news-features/broadway-stars-acknowledged-in-2021-time-100-next-list New York City cultural institutions like Broadway and theaters fear being left out of Andrew Cuomo reopening, https://www.crainsnewyork.com/hospitality-tourism/cultural-institutions-fear-being-left-out-cuomos-reopening What We Talk About When We Talk About ... Read More

By Bennett Liebman Inter vs. Inter Is the Soccer Rivalry Trademark Lawyers Can Love, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/sports/soccer/inter-milan-inter-miami.html IOC criticism forces IWF into weightlifting doping rules U-turn, https://www.insidethegames.biz/index.php/articles/1104452/ioc-criticism-forces-iwf-into-u-turn Barred from travel by husband, Iran ski coach works remotely, https://www.startribune.com/barred-from-travel-by-husband-iran-ski-coach-works-remotely/600024441/ Max Chang: Ban on transgender girls is based on fear and prejudice, https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/02/18/max-chang-ban-transgender/ Ex-Marlins ... Read More

The USPTO is seeking applications for the position of Attorney Advisor (and more specifically, Interlocutory Attorney) at the TTAB. The detailed announcement may be found here. Applications are due by February 25, 2021. This position is located in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). As an Interlocutory Attorney in ... Read More