In a precedential decision involving the “doctrine of foreign equivalents,” the Board found no likelihood of confusion between the mark RICHARD MAGAZINE for a website in the field of fashion and lifestyle and the mark RICARDO for goods and services,
Marks, Works, and Secrets
Akerman Insights on the Latest Developments in Intellectual Property Law
The "Marks, Works, and Secrets" blog, published by Akerman LLP, focuses on intellectual property law, including trademark disputes, copyright issues, and trade secrets. It covers significant court decisions affecting trademark infringement, parody in trademark law, and the extraterritorial application of trademark statutes. The blog also addresses related topics such as fair use in copyright, liability issues for social media companies regarding content, and the intersection of intellectual property with commercial and expressive uses. It provides analysis of Supreme Court rulings and their implications for businesses and legal practitioners in the IP field.
Latest from Marks, Works, and Secrets - Page 5
A Cautionary Tale of Waiver!
The Federal Circuit upheld a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) decision refusing registration of an athletic apparel company’s trademark, holding that the trademark applicant waived its key arguments by not raising them before the Board. Hylete LLC v. Hybrid…
Collective Membership And Preserving The Heritage of Pierce Arrow
In a recent decision concerning the scope of protection for collective membership marks, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board sustained The Pierce-Arrow Society’s opposition to registration of PIERCE-ARROW for “automobiles” by Applicant Spintek Filtration, Inc. The Pierce-Arrow Society v. Spintek…
How Many Types of Wines Are There: BIG SIX? Really?
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently affirmed the refusal to register a trademark application for BIG SIX for wine on the ground that the term is generic or descriptive of wines. In re Plata Wine Partners, LLC, Serial No.…
The Third Circuit Goes Bananas
In Silvertop Associates, Inc. v. Kangaroo Manufacturing, Inc., the Third Circuit applied the two-part test set forth in the Supreme Court’s decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., and held that a full-body banana costume qualified for copyright…
Cannabis Trademarks Redux
In a case affecting the fast-growing legal cannabis industry, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or “Board”) affirmed the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO”) refusal to register two trademarks for smokeless cannabis vaporizers because the goods were…
APOGEE at its Nadir for Louis Vuitton at Federal Circuit
The Federal Circuit recently sustained the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (“TTAB” or the “Board”) refusal to register Louis Vuitton Malletier’s (“LVM”) trademark APOGÉE for perfumes, a decision that will concern trademark prosecution attorneys who seek to distinguish trademarks in…
Will Lucky Get Lucky This Time Around?
On Friday, June 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether, in cases where a plaintiff asserts new claims, federal preclusion principles bar a defendant from raising defenses that were not actually litigated and resolved in any prior…
Supreme Court Will Decide When Trademark Infringers May Be Ordered to Forfeit Profits
On Friday, June 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide the circumstances necessary to support an award of a trademark infringer’s profits under section 35 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a). Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil…
Supreme Court Holds Ban on Immoral or Scandalous Trademarks Unconstitutional
On June 24, 2019, the United States Supreme Court, in Iancu v. Brunetti, reviewing the trademark application for “FUCT”, held that the Lanham’s Act’s provision, prohibiting the registration of “immoral[] or scandalous” trademarks, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a)(1), violated the First Amendment…