The concept of distinctiveness is important under trademark law because it is one of the requirements for a federally registered mark. Distinctiveness goes to the strength of the mark. In theory, the...
Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court held in the Elster case that so-called Names Clause under Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act, the federal trademark law, prohibited the use of a living person’s...
Although USPTO fees typically increase, for different matters, every two years, this year’s increases are sweeping. According to the USPTO, policy rationales for the fee increases included in the...
The ongoing saga between two of the Bay Area’s major airports continues as Oakland International Airport (OAK) filed an appeal on December 12, 2024, on the order for preliminary injunction granted to...
It was announced that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the federal agency responsible for enforcement of federal drug laws, will take up the recommendation from the U.S. Health and...
This posting reviews the last IP case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2022 term. As mentioned before, the keyword among these cases is “limitation.” The consensus of the Court is that...
Reviewing the last U.S. Supreme Court 2022 term, the highest court decided several high-profile cases involving intellectual property rights. The keyword among these cases – two trademark, one...
On January 24, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held in H&R Block, Inc. v. Block, Inc., that defendant Block’s trademark was not likely to confuse consumers as to source of the...
On November 14, 2022, in San Antonio Winery, Inc. v. Jiaxing Micarose Trade Co., Ltd., the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that process may be effected on a nonappearing foreign defendant...
The facts are as follows. The plaintiff, Punchbowl, Inc., is an online greeting card company, using and owning the PUNCHBOWL mark since 2006. The defendant AJ Press is the owner of PUNCHBOWL NEWS, an...