Descriptive brand names are seductive, if for no other reason than the belief that the name itself helps in the marketing of the goods and services. So marks like “Gal Fashion” for women’s clothing stores and “Fitband” for an armband to hold fitness tracking devices prove hard to resist. But when it comes to registering those … Continued
Does Rob Gronkowski spiking a football remind you of Michael Jordon dunking from the foul line? Nike thinks it does! Through his company, Gronk Nation, LLC, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski filed a trademark application for the following silhouette of himself spiking a football. While the USTPO approved the application for publication, Nike … Continued
Registration of U.S. trademarks may be obtained in any or all of the nations listed below by means of a single application to the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks under the Madrid Protocol. This application, based on an existing U.S. application or registration, is initiated in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. … Continued
A few months ago we reported on a case in which the U.S. Trademark Office had refused registration of THE SLANTS as a trademark for live musical performances as being disparaging of people of Asian descent. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the basis for that refusal, the Trademark Act’s “disparagement clause”, was … Continued
We enjoy seeing our patent and trademark clients become successful. When a brand becomes so successful that simply everyone knows it and talks about it, however, a new threat to trademark rights arises: the threat of a trademark becoming the “generic” term for a class of goods and/or services and incapable of being a trademark. This … Continued
