The Oprah Effect: Podcasters Sued for “Oprahdemics” Brand By Nicholas J. Krob “YOU get a car! YOU get a car! YOU get a car!” Kellie Carter Jackson and Leah Wright Rigueur, however, get a lawsuit. Media giant Oprah Winfrey seemingly strayed from her benevolent ways earlier this month when her media company Harpo, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Jackson and Rigueur, as well as Roulette Productions, LLC, […] Continue Reading →
Check it Twice: TTAB Puts Attorney on “Naughty List” for Intent to Deceive USPTO By Nicholas J. Krob While it is not advisable for anyone to sign something without reading it first, the same is especially true for lawyers, who are paid to focus on the details. As demonstrated by a recent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision, inattention to such details can have costly repercussions when dealing with the United States […] Continue Reading →
Two New ex Parte Trademark Cancellation Proceedings By Julie L. Spieker On December 18, 2021, new regulations implementing the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“the TMA”) will officially go into effect allowing individuals, businesses, and the USPTO to clear unused registered trademarks from the federal trademark register. New ex parte expungement and reexamination proceedings are said to provide a faster, more efficient, and less expensive alternative […] Continue Reading →
Your Friendly Reminder to Avoid the Temptation to Use USOPC Trademarks By Gregory Lars Gunnerson The race for the most gold medals during the 2020 Summer Olympics (informally “Tokyo 2020” and more formally “the Games of the XXXII Olympiad”) has now come to a close, and what a spectacle it was! Individuals, news outlets, and official Olympic sponsors are generally free to post and tweet about the games and athletes […] Continue Reading →
Bona Fide Hustlers: Apple Entitled to Cancellation of Social Tech’s MEMOJI Trademark By Nicholas J. Krob Following Apple’s introduction of its Memoji software in 2018, a company by the name of Social Technologies filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. The basis for this lawsuit arose out of Social Tech’s registered MEMOJI trademark. Social Tech had filed an intent-to-use trademark application for MEMOJI […] Continue Reading →
Increase in Trademark Applications Means Delays at the USPTO By Commissioner for Trademarks, David Gooder, recently announced that a surge of trademark application filings at the USPTO has created significantly longer processing times. Gooder stated that as of June 17, 2021, new trademark applications have increased roughly 63%, or about 211,000 more applications, over the previous year. In December 2020 alone, the USPTO received 92,608 […] Continue Reading →
Walmart “Tryin’ to Break Me Down”: Retail Giant Opposing Kanye West’s Yeezy Trademark By Nicholas J. Krob As Kanye West once rapped, “We at war with terrorism, racism, but most of all, we at war with ourselves.” Well, now he can add Walmart to that list. Last December, Kanye West’s apparel brand Yeezy, LLC filed a trademark application for a logo “consist[ing] of eight dotted lines . . . arranged at equal […] Continue Reading →
Clearly using “clear” for Non-Transparent Goods is Deceptively Misdescriptive. By Julie L. Spieker Dolce Vita Footware, Inc. sought registration of the mark CLEAR for various bags, purses, wallets, and card cases – excluding transparent goods. The Examiner refused registration on the grounds that it is deceptively misdescriptive and on April 29, 2021 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “TTAB”) affirmed. In its original registration, Dolce Vita identified […] Continue Reading →
“Naked” at the Federal Circuit By Julie L. Spieker On December 4, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) denied petitions by Naked TM, LLC for a panel rehearing and a rehearing en banc of the decision in Australian Therapeutics Supplies Pty. Ltd. v. Naked TM, LLC, 965 F.3D 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2020). The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board […] Continue Reading →
USPTO to Increase Trademark Fees in 2021 By The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently announced increases to certain trademark fees beginning on January 2, 2021. The fees will increase for trademark applications, post-registration maintenance filings, and certain filings with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Below are some of the more significant and noteworthy fee increases: The fee […] Continue Reading →