Washington Commanders: So You’re Saying There’s a Chance? By Nicholas J. Krob “Registration of the applied-for mark is refused” are not exactly words a trademark applicant wants to hear from the USPTO. But are they as daunting as they sound? Over the past week, various news outlets have been reporting how “the Washington Commanders’ trademark has been denied by the USPTO” and asking questions such as “What’s […] Continue Reading →
Taco Tuesday Trademark Tiff Gets Spicy By Julie L. Spieker Taco Bell recently launched an ad campaign featuring LeBron James and the censored phrase Taco T***day. In a commercial, Lebron repeatedly attempts to say the phrase “Taco Tuesday,” but the “Tuesday” is consistently bleeped out. He then helpfully explains that there’s a trademark on Taco Tuesday and therefore it cannot be used in a commercial, […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Proposes New Rules that Would Create a New Design Patent Practitioner Bar By Joseph M. Hallman On May 16, 2023, the USPTO published proposed rules that provide for the creation of a new design patent practitioner bar. The proposed design patent practitioner bar would provide for a new designation of practitioner able to practice before the USPTO. This newly proposed designation allows individuals to be classified as design patent practitioners wherein […] Continue Reading →
Gilead Defeats Federal Government Lawsuit Alleging Patent Infringement for HIV Prevention Drugs By Julie L. Spieker On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, a jury found that Gilead did not infringe on three patents held by the federal government, and furthermore, that the patents at issue are invalid. The government was seeking more than $1 billion in damages related to the sale of Truvada and Descovy for an HIV prevention regimen call pre-exposure […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Affirms Non-Infringement in Cannabis Extraction Patent Dispute By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a non-infringement ruling in a case involving Canopy Growth Corporation and GW Pharmaceuticals, two major players in the cannabis industry. At issue was Canopy’s U.S. Patent No. 10,870,632, which covers a method of extracting cannabinoids from cannabis using carbon dioxide (CO2) in liquefied form under subcritical pressure […] Continue Reading →