When asked to describe what is I.P., most people will reply with a generalized answer of patents, copyrights, or trademarks. However, the field of intellectual property encompasses more sub-categories than these “Big 3.” This blog posting will consider one of the many other I.P.s, specifically geographical indications. What is a Geographical Indication (GI)? A geographical …
Category: trademark
First Amendment Trumps Trump
On February 24, 2022, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held in In re Elster,[1] that Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §1052(c)) unconstitutionally restricts free speech. In doing so, the Fed Circuit cleared the way for trademark applicants to utilize their marks used in commerce as a platform to comment …
Spread Some LOVE . . . Or Not
Today, May 1, is Global Love Day. To commemorate the day, we spotlight ”love,” specifically the trademark registrations and copyright applications for LOVE. Registrant At World Properties, LLC, a real estate brokerage company based in Chicago, Illinois, registered two marks with the USPTO, one each stylized trademark and service mark for LOVE®. The first …
More Russian Warships, More Failures to Function
As of March 21, 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, and so do the filings of trademark applications capitalizing on that war. As discussed in an earlier blog, RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO FUCK YOURSELF was filed on February 26, 2022, just two days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, there have been six other renditions …
USPTO Cuts Ties with Rospatent, Belarus, EAPO
On March 7, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it severed its ties with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia (i.e., Rospatent) and the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) (which is based on Russia), as well as the National Center for Intellectual Property of Belarus. This is consistent with …
“Russian Warship, Go Fuck Yourself” as a Battle Cry? Yes. As a Registrable Mark? Probably Not
The world is currently seeing the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and there has been one catchphrase which has seemingly captured the fighting ethos of the Ukrainian people: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” With that said, it was only a matter of time before this common phrase would wind its way as a trademark application …
Ukrpatent Is, Amazingly, Still Operating
As news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened last week, the Ukraine State Intellectual Property Institute, or Ukrpatent, announced that it is, in fact, still operating on full-time “providing all the necessary functions and continuous operation of the state system of legal protection of intellectual property.” The Ukrpatent office is located in downtown Kyiv, …
That Sucks! Otherwise Generic gTLD Still Non-Registrable Because Not Attached with Preceding Domain Name
On February 2, 2022, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in In re Vox Populi Registry Ltd.,[1] the decision of the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) refusing registration to .SUCKS as a service mark for Vox’s domain name registry services. However, the Fed Circuit agreed with the TTAB in that …
New Public Page for Trademark Non-Use Petitions
On February 4, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office released a new public page showing new ex parte expungement or reexamination petitions for failure to use the challenged mark in commerce. Since its implementation on December 21, 2021, there have been 20 petitions for expungement and 10 petitions for reexamination filed on non-used …
Senator Requests Study on Uniting Federal IP Offices Into Single Office
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has requested the Administrative Conference of the United States, the federal agency tasked with making federal functions more efficient, to conduct a study into the feasibility of having a unified, singular federal office devoted to intellectual property, combining the registration and prosecution functions currently handled by both the United States …