IP & Technology Law Trends
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Precedential TTAB Ruling Vaporizes Marijuana-Related Trademark Registrations
After the Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) youthful experimentation with allowing trademark registrations for “processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana” in 2010, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has now ma...
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Free Speech and Functionality
The Founding Fathers ensconced intellectual property rights into the fabric of the original Constitution. Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the United States Constitution grants Congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts,...
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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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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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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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