IP & Technology Law Trends
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Christian Faith Fellowship Church is Going 12 Rounds with adidas AG in David-versus-Goliath Trademark Battle
Last week, Christian Faith Fellowship Church prevailed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on its appeal of a final judgment of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that, in response to a petition filed by adidas AG (Adidas),...
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Deadwood on the U.S. Trademark Register: Random Audit Pilot Program Proposed to be Made Permanent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has long been concerned about so called "deadwood" on its register -- registrations granted where the registration is not being used or not used on all goods/services identified in the registration, but th...
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Government Concedes that Recent Federal Circuit Ruling on Registration of "Disparaging" Trademarks Applies to "Scandalous and Immoral" Marks As Well
Here's an update to my comment on In re Tam published a couple of weeks ago.
In a letter to a clerk for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the pending Trademark Office appellate case In re Brunetti (CAFC No. 2015-1109), the U.S. Departme...
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Naughty or Nice, "Offensive" Trademarks Are Entitled to Registration: In re Tam
If you felt a rumble during the early hours of Tuesday, December 22, that was the earthquake touched off by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's holding that a long-debated and high profile portion of the nation's trademark law is unconstit...
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The Proposed TTAB Rules Package – What You Need to Know
On April 4, 2016, the U.S. Trademark Office announced the long-awaited proposed Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) rule changes. The TTAB hears appeals from denial of trademark registrations (ex parte appeals) and holds trials between parties in...
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To Tack or Not To Tack, that is the (Trademark) Question
A month ago, the U.S. Supreme Court came down with its first pure trademark matter opinion in many years (false advertising cases are in a separate category for the purposes of this article). The trademark bar was all a twitter—literally (tweeting th...
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