Fuct, a L.A. based clothing brand will be infront of the U.S. Supreme later this month. In the past, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has prohibited registration of marks that constitute immoral or scandalous matter, as well as marks that are disparaging. In 2017, the Supreme Court famously overturned the USPTO’s ban
Trademarks
Patent and Trademark Office Shutdown Update
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) posted an update on its official website yesterday with information about its activities during the shutdown. Up until this point, the USPTO has been operating through the use of prior-year fee collections. The USPTO now expects that patent operations will continue to function normally until “at least…
Swan-Shaped Pool Toy Claim Won’t Float, According To Second Circuit
Two manufacturers of large inflatable swan-shaped pool floats made a splash in a New York appeals court earlier this month. The Second Circuit rejected a New York company’s attempt to claim exclusive trade dress rights to a swan-shaped pool float, calling the endeavor “impermissibly overbroad.”
In August 2016, Long Island based pool products enterprise, Swimline…
Branding Revisited: Takeaways From the 2016 Managing the Trademark Asset Lifecycle Conference
Last week I was fortunate to attend the Managing the Trademark Asset Lifecycle Conference, hosted by World Trademark Review. The topics discussed throughout the day touched on everything from assessing portfolio strength and valuation to leveraging the financial value of a brand. Although it is impossible to touch on all the points covered during…
“Everyone is Using It” as a Defense in Trademark Law
If I want to start using a trademark similar to someone else’s, does it matter whether other people are using similar marks? Last week, in Jack Wolfskin Ausrustung Fur Draussen Gmbh & Company KGAA v. New Millennium Sports, S.L.U., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said “yes.”
In Jack Wolfskin, Jack…