The Lanham Act (federal trademark law) does not allow generic terms to be registered as trademarks, but it does allow protection for words that are considered merely “descriptive.” Unfortunately, it’s difficult to tell where the line is. Can you take a generic word...
Month: March 2020
Can you trademark a word with a cultural meaning? Be cautious.
If you’re opening a Mexican restaurant, you don’t call it “Jenny’s.” You choose a name that carries cultural cachet and implies what you’re selling. When a Phoenix-area restaurant opened selling Asian-Mexican fusion cuisine, it hoped to capture both cultures with its...
Led Zeppelin wins “Stairway to Heaven” case at 9th Circuit
Was the classic opening riff to Led Zeppelin’s 1971 monster hit “Stairway to Heaven” actually ripped off from the 1968 song “Taurus” by the band Spirit? That question was before a jury in 2016 and was recently on appeal before the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals....
Should e-commerce platforms be liable for third-party counterfeits?
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order calling for crackdown on counterfeit or pirated goods. Specifically, it targeted U.S. companies that import, or who facilitate the import of, those goods. Now, a bipartisan bill has passed the House of...
Has “Choose Your Own Adventure” become a generic term?
The publishing company Chooseco owns the “Choose Your Own Adventure” trademark once owned by Bantam Books, and it has been fighting hard to protect its rights. Over the years, it has filed suit against a number of publishers and other companies that used the phrase to...