When a trademark owner dies, there can be uncertainty in who owns the trademark or whether the trademark is even still valid and subsisting. There is always an owner of a trademark, usually a company but sometimes an individual. No…
In the past year, I have dealt with one issue more times than I have in the previous ten years of practice: correcting or changing the applicant name in a trademark application during prosecution. Apparently trademark applicants are mis-identifying themselves…
In honor of the Rubik’s Cube craze that has recently hit the Galvani household, we decided to take a closer look at how this iconic toy was created and what type of intellectual property protection it has enjoyed over the…
Trademark owners will soon have a shorter office action response deadline. Beginning December 3, 2022, the Trademark Office will cut the normal six-month response period to just three months. When a trademark application undergoes examination, the Trademark Office sends an…
A trademark coexistence agreement is an agreement between two parties about their respective use of the same or similar trademarks. They generally allow two trademark owners to use identical or similar marks, usually in a manner designed to avoid consumer…
Earlier this year, Crumbl Cookies sued two competitors. Crumbl started in Logan, Utah, not far from where I happen to be writing this today in Bountiful, Utah. Crumbl sells large ornate cookies in pink boxes and has a menu that…
Trademarks are assets of a company. Just like any other asset, they can be bought and sold. However, unlike other assets, trademarks cannot generally be sold by themselves. In other words, a trademark must be sold with something else, something…
The Trademark Office will soon start issuing electronic trademark registration certificates instead of paper ones. The Trademark Office has for years created an electronic registration certificate and mailed a paper version, which has a decorative stamp and ribbon. After June…
Trademark applications are examined after they are filed. This is part of the trademark prosecution process, and it sometimes results in an initial refusal, or “office action.” Office actions are simply official letters from the Trademark Office. The Trademark Office…
On January 8, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will introduce “identity verification” for registered USPTO.gov users. Before 2019, “anyone” could file a trademark application, so long as they knew how to submit trademark correspondence through mail, fax,…