If you want to stop people who might utilize the marks associated with a brand you own, the first thing you need to do is register those marks with the USPTO. However, your work does not stop at registering your marks – the real deterrent comes when entities police...
What if I were to tell you a television show about a basketball team that uses a real basketball team’s registered trademark name and colors, is set in the same city, and even has the fictional team being founded in the same year? If you said that sounds a lot like...
Can the filing of a false Section 15 Declaration provide valid grounds for cancellation of a trademark registration? In the case of Great Concepts, LLC v. Chutter, Inc., the Federal Circuit Court answered no. They did so again in a modified opinion after a petition...
If you have ever driven down I-95 toward Daytona Beach or St. Augustine (or in much of the southeast or practically anywhere in Texas), chances are good that you have seen signs advertising Buc-ee’s gas station/country store. If you have seen those signs or visited a...
If you are in the IP world or have been following this blog for any length of time, you have probably heard me talk about INTA, the International Trademark Association. I typically attend their annual meeting, and like to write about my experiences and what I learn...
If you have a business, it is almost guaranteed these days that you also have a website. The name people type into their browser to find your website? That is your domain name. Broadly speaking, most businesses in the US are at businessname.com. You likely know that....
On the list of things that can potentially prevent your trademark infringement lawsuit from going forward, a “trade embargo” probably is not very high. But that is precisely why Cuban company Cubaexport was prevented from suing Bacardi in the U.S. From the outside,...
Back in 2012, Beyoncé and JayZ attempted to get a trademark for the name of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, not long after her birth. Their reason? The Carters did not want people profiting off of their little girl’s name and saw the trademark registration as a means...