Trademarks

When we last visited (here) the long-running Bayer versus Belmora battle over the mark FLANAX, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had reversed and remanded the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The lower court had ruled that Bayer lacked standing ... Read More

Louise Thorning AhleThe discrepancy between the case law using geographical origin as a reason for rejection of a trademark in the EU and at the DKPTO, respectively, is becoming increasingly noticeable; most recently with the judgement from the General Court in T-122/17 DEVIN on the registrability of the geographical name ... Read More

We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Eashan Ghosh on the recent decision of the Calcutta High Court in the GI and Certification TM infringement case filed by the Tea Board of India against ITC for use of ‘Darjeeling’ as part of the name of a refreshment ... Read More

By Joshua Lahijani In the past decade, with the rise of social media, celebrity social media endorsements and promotions have become a significant source of supplemental or primary income. Celebrities that engage in this business on social media are commonly referred to as influencers. Compensation per post may range from ... Read More

Brainbase, a California tech startup with a team in Estonia, has received US$1M in seed funding to build an "end-to-end product ecosystem for intellectual property licensing" that could change the way businesses manage and licence their brands worldwide. The investment is an indication of dynamic evolution in the IP sector ... Read More

The Board reversed four failure-to-function refusals of the mark RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS, in the special form shown below, for goods and services relating to the promotion and encouragement of the "doing of good deeds for others." The examining attorney maintained that the subject phrase is "merely informational and constitutes ... Read More

By Eric Lanter Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Media, and General News: Entertainment 21 Savage to Be Released From Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody British-born rapper 21 Savage's attorney announced that the artist is being released on ... Read More

The national intellectual property offices of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week advanced work on developing a regional trademark registration system, according to European Union sources working with them. ... Read More

Red Bull GmbH opposed an application to register the mark PINK COW & Design (shown first below) for "Beers; mineral and aerated waters; soft drinks; smoothies; vegetable juice; fruit drinks and fruit juices; concentrates for making fruit drinks; syrups for making non-alcoholic beverages; excluding energy drinks," alleging a likelihood of ... Read More

Generic trademarks are those which, due to their popularity and/or common usage, have become synonymous with the products or services. Such trademarks include Kleenex, Band-Aid, Jeep, Aspirin, and Cellophane. Such marks, generally, cannot be federally registered or protected under the Lanham Act due to the marks direct reference to the ... Read More

[This blog post is a collaborative effort of yours truly and members of the IP CO-LAB Clinic at Northeastern University]. The Board affirmed a refusal to register the phrase OOPS! WRONG ANSWER, finding that it fails to function as a mark for trivia website services. The Board likewise affirmed the ... Read More

By: Melinda Upton, Nicholas Boyle, Jessie Buchan, Lucy Meadley and Valiant Warzecha Businesses are constantly looking for an extra dimension that will allow their brand to cut through the saturation of the modern world. Increasingly, corporate re-brands or brand refreshes are including bespoke musical themes known as ‘sound identities’ or ... Read More

The Board dismissed this Section 2(d) opposition to registration of the mark shown below left, for software "for providing information to medical personnel and patients regarding the cost of a patient’s prescription medication taking into account that patient’s insurance coverage," finding that opposer had failed to prove a likelihood of ... Read More

Bennett Liebman Government Lawyer in Residence, Government Law Center, Albany Law School When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget for the New York State 2019-2020 fiscal year was announced last month, it was accompanied by the news that the state's four upstate private casinos would be authorized to take ... Read More

By Barry Skidelsky, Esq. Chair, NYSBA Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section bskidelsky@mindspring.com or 212-832-4800 You might be interested to know (if you don't already) that in National Veterans Legal Services Program v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is currently considering whether the ... Read More

The USPTO refused registration of the mark shown immediately below, for beer, finding the mark likely to cause confusion with the registered mark I-10 for "beer, ale, lager, stout and porter." The goods overlap, but what about the marks? How do you think this came out? In re RPD Management, ... Read More

Lauren SomersIt would be fair to say that the implementation of GDRP last year caused a number of headaches for businesses that handle personal data. However, one of the lesser publicised implications of GDPR was the redaction of all WHOIS information for registered domain names. Suddenly, information about the registrant ... Read More

The World Trade Organization is the prime gathering point for the world's governments to discuss and negotiate on policies of the day. A decades-long swinging pendulum within the WTO's committee on trade and intellectual property is IP's contribution to innovation and economy and its contribution to the public interest. At ... Read More

On January 11, 2019, the Cancellation Division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) rendered a surprising decision that revoked in its entirety the McDonald’s Company’s BIG MAC trademark registration, which had been registered in the EU since December 1998. This is the latest chapter in a fight between ... Read More

The Board dismissed this petition for cancellation of Roman Atwood's registration for the mark SMILE MORE for various goods (stickers, backpacks, shirts) and for retail store service featuring clothing, denying petitioner's claim that the term fails to function as a mark. The evidence of a very small number of third-party ... Read More

By Eric Lanter Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Media, and General News: Entertainment Rapper 21 Savage Arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents On Sunday,agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 21 Savage, a rapper from England. ... Read More

If you haven’t heard already, New York Fashion Week is here! As usual, a lineup of awe-inspiring shows is expected to roll out over the next several days, as it does every September and February, highlighting the latest fashion trends of some of world’s most famous designers.  One of the ... Read More

A ground-breaking new high-tech system to catch falsified medicines in the supply chain in Europe went into effect today, allowing prescription medicines to undergo verification for authenticity before reaching patients. ... Read More

The leading United States industry association yesterday released its annual International Intellectual Property Index, ranking countries on their progress in protecting US intellectual property rights. The ranks show the US advancing in the area of patent protection, while retaining the top overall score; India strengthening IP and charting a course ... Read More

David Leffler and Karin LjungmanIn a recent case from the Swedish Patent and Market Court, the court dismissed Dalecarlia Chocolates AB’s (Dalecarlia) infringement claim of their EU and Swedish 3D marks in relation to chocolate, candy and confectionery (class 30). The 3D marks, depicted below, are formed as a Dala ... Read More

[This guest post was written by Stephanie Grace Stella, an associate in the Trademark Group at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.]. The Board reversed a Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusal of CANNABIS CANNIBALS for “entertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring animated cannabis smoking cannibals provided through network or cable ... Read More

As the blockbuster animated movie Lego Movie 2 gets set to hit screens in the United States this weekend, the World Intellectual Property Organization had a release of its own: a domain dispute ruling against a pirate website purporting to offer a free version of the film for download ahead ... Read More

White Horse Wash opposed the application of White Horse Auto to register the mark WHITE HORSE AUTO for automobile dealerships [AUTO disclaimed], claiming a likelihood of confusion with opposer's mark WHITE HORSE AUTO WASH for "automobile and vehicle washing; automobile and vehicle detailing" [AUTO WASH disclaimed]. The marks are nearly ... Read More

President Donald Trump gave the US Congress a rosy, nationalistic presentation of the condition of the US economy and security last night and amid the range of issues raised, mentioned intellectual property twice in the context of trade, and extensively discussed lowering drug prices. ... Read More

ICON Health & Fitness opposed Procheer's application to register the mark shown immediately below, for "providing fitness instruction services in the field of dance, and physical fitness," alleging a likelihood of confusion with its registered mark IFIT for, inter alia, physical fitness instruction. The services overlap, but what about the ... Read More