Disney’s trademark attorneys sought an extension of time at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial & Appeal Board while they review their options in legally challenging DJ Deadmau5’s application to register his mouse-head logo. Joel Zimmerman, better known by his Deadmau5 stage name, is a well-known music producer…
With Jeremy Lin’s return to New York this week, the epicenter of the 2012 LINSANITY craze, Grantland published an article regarding Linsanity 2.0 and his basketball career with his new Houston Rockets team. Thus, I thought it was a good idea to revisit the status of the Linsanity trademark applications…
Consumer reports, through Yahoo, has an informative and interesting article on the trademark selection process for cars. It correlates well with my article on selecting a strong and enforceable trademark for your goods and services. The process begins with numerous proposals that are whittled down to the top few, which…
This NBA season’s “LIN-derella” feel good story is New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin’s fast-break rise from bench warmer to player of the week award recipient in a week. With his success, the nicknames have started pouring in faster than the 38 points he scored against the Lakers: LINsanity, LINcredible, LINvincible,…
Los Angeles, CA – Tag Toys, Inc. (“BBI”) sued LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and unfair competition under the Lanham Act § 43(a). Tag designs and manufactures infant and children’s toys that are sold throughout the U.S. under its TAG and/or “TAG THINK & GROW” trademarks, which…
CNN Money has an interesting article (link here) regarding several companies’ attempts to invigorate their image by using new logos. Some have succeeded (e.g. Apple) and some, well, not so much (e.g. Xerox). Although re-branding is a bit of a gamble with consumers, having a strong word mark as a…
The Trademark Trial And Appeal Board (“TTAB”) issued a ruling in In re Right-On Co., Ltd., affirming the examining attorney’s refusal to register Right-On’s three trademark applications, covering stitching on the back pockets of jeans, because they were a form of ornamentation and were not inherently distinctive to function as…
A trademark cancellation proceeding – which is similar to a lawsuit – was filed at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) by John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, against Lennon Murphy, the registrant of the “Lennon” trademark. Murphy, a musician, filed an “intent to use” trademark application with the United…
Filing a trademark application with the USPTO for a descriptive trademark does not provide enforceable trademark rights until secondary meaning can be established, after which the trademark can be registered on the principal register from the supplemental register. The trademark owner learned the drawbacks of choosing a descriptive trademark when…
WIPO domain name arbitration under the UDRP provides a thorough analysis of a domain name registrant’s rights and those of trademark owners. In HSBC Finance Corporation v. Clear Blue Sky, Inc., Case No. D2007-0062, Complainant HSBC had registered the trademarks CREDITKEEPER and CREDIT KEEPER (plus design) with the USPTO on…