When you walk through a cosmetics store, the sheer number of brands and variations on packaging can be overwhelming. Translate that into the volume of intellectual property that brand owners must protect in the marketplace and there are certainly going to be...
Trademark Law
Product counterfeiting a big concern in the gift-giving season
The massive increase in retail sales - both from brick-and-mortar stores and from internet sources - that accompanies the holiday season can create the perfect storm within which counterfeiters can try to launch their masquerading products, hoping to go unnoticed in...
Can a landlord be liable for trademark infringement by a tenant?
When a third party directs or contributes to trademark-infringing activity of another party, the direct infringer’s liability is clear, but the third party may also be liable under the concept of contributory infringement. The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1982...
Will USPTO grant a new trademark that includes quotation marks?
Off-White is a popular Italian company affiliated with designer Virgil Abloh, creator of the line MARKERAD in collaboration with IKEA. MARKERAD items became available for sale at IKEA on Nov. 1. Some of the branded products at IKEA contain Abloh's signature use of...
When must a trademark infringer disgorge its profits?
The U.S. Supreme Court released its January 2020 oral argument calendar and it schedules argument in an important trademark infringement case. On Jan. 14, the fourth case heard in the new year will be Romag Fasteners v. Fossil Inc., requiring the justices to decide...
Aggressive trademark enforcement is a complex business decision
The ongoing story of a Utah-based online retailer and its efforts to preserve its trademark interests in the word “backcountry” provides a fascinating look into the careful consideration a business must conduct of potential outcomes of such a campaign....
Temporary restraining order issued for return of stolen domain name
Nowadays, your URL is as big a part of your business branding as are company and product names. Domain name protection is a fast-growing area of intellectual property law as the threats to domain names - which trademark often protects - are real and aggressive. A...
Guitar companies fly into dispute over instrument shapes
Some of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll history have played Gibson's distinctive Flying V guitar, including Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Pete Townshend of the Who, Johnny Winter, Paul Stanley of Kiss and many more. The electric instrument looks just like...
Trademarks: SCOTUS asked to decide if BOOKING.COM is not generic
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, known as the USPTO, filed a petition in July with the U.S. Supreme Court. The agency is asking the high court to review a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The appeals court held that while "booking" is a...
Trademark dispute pits power couple against wedding planner
No married couple in history has sold more musical recordings than Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter and her husband Shawn Corey Carter, better known professionally as Beyoncé and Jay-Z, of course. The California residents' twins were born in the state,...