Federal Circuit on the THE SLANTS: [Updated]
Remember when I said, and said, and said, the appeal involving the TTAB’s rejection of the trademark application for THE SLANTS was fundamentally about PTO... Read more
Category: Trademarks and trademark law
Functionality in trademark and patent law
What with all the hoopla over controversial and headline-making cases, it’s tempting sometimes to forget about the need to drill and to stay up to date... Read more
Must-read IP
The TTABlog designates as “Recommended Reading” Scot Duvall on the The Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006. From John’s description, he makes the Act all... Read more
Never trust a hippie?
For years I’ve been kvetching here about the phenomenon of municipal overreach on intellectual property claims, whether it’s catchphrases with no particular geographic association; transit line symbols... Read more
Indian givers (part 3)
Part one and part two of this three-part post were published earlier this week. When the PTO’s decision revoking the REDSKINS registrations was affirmed by... Read more
Best of 2010: Drive-by infringement
Steve Baird says initial interest confusion is “the real thing” and in the process seeks to “add life” to Professor McCarthy’s famous “evil highway road sign”... Read more
Best of 2009: Jiggering it out at the PTO
First posted January 29, 2009. Oh, to be a hip, Jewish intellectual… property owner. Stick with me here. A while back I was following the... Read more
Best of 2007: “I’m a man”
Posted on June 6, 2007. And perhaps a Brawnier one than you might otherwise have thought, at that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.... Read more
Best of 2005: The Trademark That’s Too Good to be a Trademark
Posted on December 26, 2005. That’s what a generic mark is. The TTAB Blog reports that the TTAB has ruled that Lawyers.com, the consumer interface... Read more
Best of 2005: Q the Lawyers
Originally posted on March 27, 2005. A report in the online Financial Express says that Nissan is suing Audi over “Q.” To wit: “We are... Read more
Pipe dreams
Popular Mechanics reports: “We were there first — by 10 years. Now I see a potential re-branding that could take years to complete,” says Universal... Read more
got what, now?
If you’re reading this, then the settlement check has cleared. But you’ll never believe who paid whom for what! My friend—whom I will call Bryan... Read more
Best of 2014: Redskins decision: The present judges the past
Originally posted on June 18, 2014. I’ve been writing about the dispute over the REDSKINS trademark on this blog more or less since the beginning... Read more
Wal-Mart pushed back on dubious trademark threats
MarketWatch reports this story about an opinonated gent who’s suing Wal-Mart for a declaratory judgment: Smith said he was making a point by comparing the... Read more