Foreign Trademark Applicants – Breaking Down Section 44: How Foreign Trademark Applicants Can Obtain U.S. Trademark Protection Section 44 of the U.S. Trademark Act, also known as the Lanham Act, provides an important and convenient avenue for foreign trademark owners to apply for trademark registration in the United States. Foreign trademark applicants have two options...Read More

Trademark a plant? Trademarks have helped create value for all sorts of products. However, may a living thing such as a plant variety that you have bred and created be trademarked? A Rose By Any Other Name … But Likely Not a Trademark What’s in this article… Can You Trademark A Plant? Real World Trademark...Read More

Trademark Modernization Act of 2020: Increasing Protective Measures What’s in this article… Fighting Fraudulent Applications Through The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 Strengthens Legitimate Trademark The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 Could Shorten Deadlines What is the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020? The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant...Read More

Trademark and Copyright Issues to Consider With Sales of Athletic Goods and Apparel When can a generic design rise to an infringement of intellectual property rights? A common and growing occurrence comes when one takes an attribute of a famous athlete (like a number), puts it with that athlete’s team color scheme, and the next...Read More

SCOTUS Ruling In USPTO v. Booking.com Opens The Door For Generic Domain Owners To Register Their Trademark The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has believed that “generic.com” domain names were almost always generic and therefore not registrable under trademark law. However, the Supreme Court’s nearly unanimous decision in USPTO v. Booking.com (2020) 591 U.S....Read More

The ‘Deceptively Misdescriptiveness’ Rejection Deceptively Misdescriptiveness – There are many reasons your trademark application may be denied. One of the more unique reasons is something called “deceptively misdescriptiveness.” Your first question is probably “what does that even mean?” A mark is considered deceptively misdescriptive if it describes an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, or feature of...Read More

The Trademark Registration Process Part 3 Trademark Registration Process Part 3 – In Trademark Registration Part 2 of the trademark registration process we looked at the process for obtaining Federal registration of a mark.  Today, in tademark registration process part 3, we conclude with some miscellaneous, but still important, issues in the trademark registration process....Read More

Can Government Entity Trademark Insignia? Government Entity Trademark Their Insignia? – Today we look at an interesting case, In Re City of Houston, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  This case consolidated two cases, one brought by the city of Houston, Texas, and the other by the government of the District of...Read More

Registration Process for Trademark Part 2 Registration Process – Part 2 – Once the use in commerce (or intent to use) requirement is satisfied by the aspiring trademark registrant, the next step is to file an application for Federal registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO” or “Trademark Office”).  The use requirement...Read More

The Trademark Registration Process Trademark Registration Process – How does one go about registering a trademark?  What are some of the requirements in order to obtain protection?  There are many steps and several issues to consider, but overall the process is not arcane or excessively complicated (unlike, for instance, the steps necessary to obtain a...Read More