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

No Damages, Big Problem: Infringement Claims Lacking Cognizable Injury What’s in this article… No Damages, No Case? Proving Loss Of Profits As Loss Of Good Will Can Also Qualify As Damages No Damages, No Case? The Importance of Cognizable Damages in Trademark Infringement Claims In a highly competitive marketplace, established companies sometimes use a variety...Read More

Understanding Brand Bullies On top of today’s extremely competitive market, small businesses may be also dealing with a “brand bully.” Also known as a trademark bully, a brand bully is a company that resorts to litigation and uses its trademark rights to harass and intimidate another business without a sound legal basis. These companies often...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

Trademark Ornamental Refusals – What to Consider Sometimes, the USPTO will issue eccentric and unusual refusals to a trademark application. One such refusal is called an ornamental refusal. If you receive a trademark ornamental refusals, it means your registration of your applied-for mark has been refused because your mark is essentially merely decorative. That is,...Read More

Renewing Your Trademark-Excusable Non-Use Renewing Your Trademark – Even after you have successfully registered a mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office, you are not done in ensuring your mark stays registered and protected. Your trademark application must be renewed 5-6 years after your first registration in order to maintain that registration. You must...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