John Welch questions whether you would have appealed the recent rejection of Gila River’s application for AIRIA. Local Arizona tribe and gaming enterprise Gila River has a night club named Airia, but unfortunately, there is an Area nightclub in LA…
When the Trademark Office receives a new application, one of the first things it does is conduct a search for similar marks. The Trademark Examiner often searches for identical mark and homonyms in all goods and services classifications and for similar…
All trademark registrations filed under Sections 1(a) or 1(b) of the Lanham Act carry a date of first use. In those registrations that are filed as intent-to-use applications, the date that the mark is first used is typically very easy…
As I have written before, trademark applicants and registrants should be on the watch for official-looking notices or requests asking for fees or registry enrollments. The USPTO has begun issuing a formal warning notice when it mails the Certificate of…
Several months ago, Slowtwitch.com erupted over an altered image that had been discovered of pro triathlete Hillary Biscay. The original image showed Biscay running during an Ironman-branded race with a jersey that bears a small blue decal. That decal is…
The Ironman trademark (the second link is to one of the many Ironman registrations) is an extremely valuable trademark to the World Triathlon Corporation. The WTC works to protect its unauthorized use (though sometimes I do question their authorized use)….
Before the end of last year, I wrote about obtaining trademark protection in a series of works. I used books as an example: while you normally cannot register the title of a single book, when you develop a series of…
I received my latest bit of trademark happenings from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live Weekend Update, not a colleague’s blog. Skee-Ball, Inc., the owner of Skee-ball games filed suit against a company that runs Skee-ball tournaments under the moniker “Brewksee-Ball.”…
Trademark rights in a book title are not ordinarily available. Trademark protection doesn’t extend to titles of single pieces. Even massive sales of a single work cannot create the necessary source-indicating quality that a trademark requires. So if your book…
When an Section 1(b) intent-to-use trademark application receives a Notice of Allowance, the applicant has six months to file an acceptable statement of use to prove that the applied-for mark is being used in commerce. Applicants that fail to file…