Trademark Newsflash: Supreme Court Strikes Down Disparagement Clause
Since 1946, when the Lanham Act was enacted, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied registration of any trademark that “[c]onsists of ……
Hear Hard Candy Roar – Sues Over CoverGirl Katy Perry Makeup Line
Hard Candy, LLC (“Hard Candy”) sued The Procter & Gamble Company (“P&G”), parent company to CoverGirl in the federal district court of Florida for 1) federal…
Don’t Be a Dope: Protecting Your Marijuana Intellectual Property Despite Federal Prohibitions
Marijuana is still listed as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, but a number of states have legalized it, even for…
USPTO Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Its Right to Deny “Offensive” Trademarks
I previously wrote about a Supreme Court case pitting the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act against the…
“Disparaging” Federal Trademark Registrations: Gearing Up for the Main Event
Today the Supreme Court agreed to decide an ongoing conflict, pitting a trademark registrant’s First Amendment rights against longstanding law precluding trademark registration of “disparaging” marks. In…
Washington Redskins’ Hail Mary Pass: Petition SCOTUS to Sack USPTO
INITIAL CALL ON THE FIELD In June 2014, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) stripped the Washington Redskins (Washington) of their federal trademarks, finding the…
Can the USPTO Still Reject “Disparaging” Trademarks? Stay tuned
Nobody knows, and that’s why the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just filed a petition asking Supreme Court to settle its turf battle with the…
