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Lanham Act Disparaging Mark Registration Refusal Standards Await...
Summary: It is rare that legal decisions are reported on by “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” but that is exactly what happened when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia...
View ArticleIs It a Matter of Time: Does the Time Stamp for Competing Filings Uploaded on...
Summary: Recently the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) considered the implications of competing filings that occurred on the same day. In particular, a trademark applicant filed an...
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“Initial Interest Confusion” Trademark Doctrine Still Has Legs in Ninth Circuit
The doctrine of “initial interest confusion,” scorned by many legal commentators and rejected by numerous courts, is alive and well in the Ninth Circuit, as evidenced by its recent usage by a watch...
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Trademark and Domain Name Scams on the Rise
Summary: The nature of public trademark data lends itself to information mining and a significant amount of confusion, deception, and fraud. Accordingly, many private businesses have monopolized public...
View ArticleUSPTO Now Allows Applicants to Modernize Their Descriptions of Goods and...
On September 1, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched a pilot program that allows some trademark owners the opportunity to amend their identifications of goods or services that...
View ArticleLicensing, Logo Protection, and Fair Use – Rounding Out Nutter’s How-To...
Nutter’s series on building a brand began with the selection of a trademark and the process of formally protecting a mark via trademark registration. More recent articles in the series have addressed...
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Ninth Circuit Reverses Itself, Slouching Away from “Initial Interest...
Over the summer we analyzed a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that denied Amazon.com, Inc.’s (Amazon) motion for summary judgment as to watchmaker Multi Time Machine, Inc.’s...
View ArticleMore than a Feeling, Less than Trademark Infringement
In Scholz v. Goudreau, No. 13-CV-10951, 2015 WL 5554012 (D. Mass. Sept. 21, 2015) rock legends are before the District of Massachusetts grappling, in part, over a familiar band’s legacy. After...
View ArticleFederal Circuit: Lanham Act “Disparaging” Mark Prohibition Unconstitutional
On December 22nd the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its sua sponte en banc In re Tam decision regarding the constitutionality of the “disparaging” marks bar under Section 2(a) of the...
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City Fitness Attempts to Exercise Service Mark Rights
In a decision dismissing plaintiffs’ claims of service mark infringement, the District of Massachusetts held that the plaintiffs’ transfer of “goodwill” in an asset purchase agreement also transferred...
View ArticleNew Dangers at the TTAB
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office has recently become a more dangerous place. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board—usually referred to by its acronym...
View ArticleSignificant Changes to the Rules Related to European Trademarks – Three...
The European Union’s (EU) trademark regulations are undergoing a significant overhaul as of March 23, 2016. For starters, the terminology is changing: the title “Community Trade Mark” or “CTM,” will be...
View ArticleU.S. Trademark Opposition/Cancellation Rule Change Proposals of Special...
On April 4, 2016 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that details proposed changes to the USPTO’s rules of practice for trademark application...
View ArticleCourt Silences Sound Spark Studios’ Trademark Claims
In the summer of 2012, Jeremy Southgate applied with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register a design mark for “Sound Spark Studios.” A little over a year-and-a-half later, Southgate...
View ArticleSteps Professional Services Firms Can Take to Protect a House Mark
Professional service firms at times seem to focus on protecting the names of their service offerings or platforms at the expense of their house marks. Pat Concannon, a partner in Nutter’s Intellectual...
View ArticleTime is Now to Assess E.U. TM Registration Goods Wording in Advance of...
There is a September 23, 2016 deadline for clarifying product or service specification wording within European trademark registrations in certain situations where that is necessary. Trademark...
View ArticleA Common Cue Creates No Confusion
Cue, Inc. sells high-end home audio equipment (e.g., table radios and speakers). In 2007, it applied to register the trademark CUE ACOUSTICS, and in late 2009 the USPTO allowed its application. Cue’s...
View ArticleTTAB Rules Changes Confirmed – Effective January 14, 2017
The public comments have been considered and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board rule changes proposed in April 2016 and summarized in this blog post have been confirmed with only minor exceptions....
View ArticleU.S. Commerce Department Releases Updated Report Showing Intellectual...
The U.S. Commerce Department recently released a comprehensive report, entitled “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: 2016 Update” (the “Report”). The Report, which was co-authored by the...
View ArticleUPDATE: BOSTON’S Founder and a Former Bandmate Still Seek Peace of Mind
We have written previously about Scholz v. Goudreau, No. 13-CV-10951 (D. Mass.); the case recently went to trial on the parties’ surviving claims, and they are now immersed in post-trial briefing. Tom...
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