Rare Federal Circuit Case Upholds Rejection of Trademark as Disparaging
A recent Federal Circuit trademark case highlighted the requirement that trademarks not disparage political or religious organizations.
Is a Comprehensive Clearance Search for Your Trademark Worth the Money?
This post written by guest author, attorney Gianni Pattas. Everything is perfect. You paid a graphic designer to design your brand new logo for your business. You paid the radio to run ads advertising the grand opening of your business….
Telescoped Trademarks
Picking a trademark is an incredibly important part of starting a business or bringing a new product line to market. The ability to protect the mark depends on its distinctiveness. Some marks are generic or descriptive, while others are highly…
Obtaining Consent to Register a Trademark in a Name
When a mark in a trademark application includes a name, portrait or signature of a living individual, that person’s consent must generally be sought before the Trademark Office will register the application. This is to prevent the registration – and…
Universal Symbols and Trademarks
John Welch writes over at TTABlog today about the recent refusal of Craigslist’s application to register a trademark for the peace symbol. It is a very interesting post on a not-frequently-seen area of trademark law. While generally a trademark can…
Reviving an Abandoned Trademark Application
A trademark application will be abandoned by the Trademark Office if a deadline passes without you taking certain action. This can happen, for instance, if the Trademark Office has issued you an Office Action that requires a response, and the…
Trademark Likelihood of Confusion, in Triathlon Products
Today, a basic primer on trademark infringement and an example of something that seems pretty clear. A registered trademark gives the owner the right to prevent anyone from using a mark in a way that is likely to cause confusion….
Angelo’s, In-N-Out Burger, and their Confusingly Similar Signs
A few weekends ago I competed at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside in California. Oceanside has some restaurants I’ve not seen anywhere else before, in the country or even in California. One of those was a place called Angelo’s, which served everything…
Trademark Designations: TM / MC
I saw a designation I’ve not seen before on some packaging at Costco this weekend. We walked down the coffee aisle, and the Starbucks VIA coffee packets were branded with a NEVER BE WITHOUT GREAT COFFEE tagline followed by a…
Trademark Registration in Clothing Should be Pursued Cautiously
I have written previously about the difficulties – or at least the special issues – involved in registering a trademark in connection with clothing. There is an unfortunate disconnect between the way the Trademark Office views trademarks on clothing and…