I posted an article a little while ago about the power of social networking in a pre-litigation scenario. Beernews.org put out an article about a cease-and-desist letter that Hansen, owner of the MONSTER trademark, sent small-town Rock Art Brewery, concerning…
The online version of MPEP 2141 states, in Section II: The factual inquiries enunciated by the Court [in Graham] are as follows: (A) Ascertaining the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art; and (B) Ascertaining the differences between…
Bose isn’t a newly issued case, but I just went to a seminar on it and the fraud standards in trademark and patent matters, so I thought I’d report on it here. Bose opposed the registration of HEXAWAVE, and Hexawave…
I almost always recommend businesses register their trademarks federally; doing so provides many advantages over relying on common law trademark protection. However, it sometimes happens that a mark or a logo slips through and a competitor begins diverting trade by…
2009-1140 In re Michael Sones, opinion by Linn with a dissent by Newman. Michael Sones filed an intent-to-use application for the mark ONE NATION UNDER GOD for charity bracelets. The website where he sold the bracelets initially had no picture…
I’ve been getting questions about provisional applications lately, so I thought it was worth a post. There are a number of ways in which the decision to file a provisional application is significantly different from a patent application. First, a…
Last night I attended a Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Valley Young Professionals event called Making a Brand Stronger: Your Company, You, and Your City. The hosts, David and Sam PR, spoke mainly about Phoenix’s image as a national city and…
The New York Times and the Arizona Republic recently published stories on the condition of venture capital in 2009, as documented by Friday’s report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
Applications of open-source theories of cooperation and development are popping up all over the place. In veiled product R&D, Coca Cola now offers a self-serve soda fountain – the Freestyle – where users can mix hundreds of different flavors to…
Social networking helped you connect with your high school friends, then helped you find colleagues and business contacts across the country. Now it is being used by companies to ward off marauding trademark holders protecting their brand and then some,…