Trademarks are an open book — even for Banksy.
One of the signal features of the United States trademark registration system is its openness. As I put it in an earlier post, one reason the USPTO will not be deluged (and as far as I know, has not been deluged) with applications to register disgusting or hateful trademarks is that you “have to put a name and address on a trademark registration.”
The artist BANKSY has once again refused to provide the USPTO with an actual name and signed a consent statement for a trademark application with a pseudonym – see: https://t.co/yK7oK6M9gi
— Proof of Use (@ProofofUse) September 10, 2019
I wrote about how this played out last time here: https://t.co/QURAGRQgBZ
Exit Banksy.
Originally posted 2019-09-17 18:15:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/pods/akimbo/e/62016707
Not that it matters. Anyone who wants to know his name, does.
But the fact that Banksy puts in the effort is something to admire.
Yes. It is a statement that is arguably worth making.
I once spoke at length with a young European trademark lawyer who was astonished that the USPTO trademark application process is an open book, including with respect to the identity of the applicant, from “go.” But that’s the policy choice we’ve made, and it’s probably not a bad one. It does require some tactical decision-making in some circumstances that would not be necessary in a more confidential system, but not necessarily anything all that much more profound than the difference between managing a baseball team without a designated hitter as opposed to without.