trademark
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Isn’t It the Corporate Secretary’s Job …
Isn’t it the Corporate Secretary’s job (and in this case, the same person was also the General Counsel) to make sure that documents are signed by the right entity? In East West Bank Co. v. The Plubell Firm LLC, not once, but twice the Corporate Secretary, Douglas Krause, executed trademark maintenance documents for the wrong… Continue reading
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And You Wonder Why Litigation Is Expensive
Golly, the things you have to explain sometimes. Plaintiff Ubu/Elements, Inc. claimed to have purchased all of the assets of Defendant Elements Personal Care, Inc. UBU/Elements accused the defendant of continuing to use the trademark AFTER THE GAME after the purchase. The Asset Purchase Agreement said this about the trademark in dispute: If you can’t… Continue reading
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A Blessing in Disguise
Whole Foods lost a New York tax decision to the tune of $3.5 million, but in my opinion that’s a small price to pay to avoid a decision inconsistent with ownership of the WHOLE FOODS trademarks. Whole Foods Market Group, Inc. (WFMG), a Delaware corporation, is the operating company that distributes and sells natural and… Continue reading
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How to Steal a Trademark
Progressive Emu, Inc. v. Nutrition & Fitness, Inc. is mostly a dispute about paying for emu oil, but there’s also a trademark claim involved. In 2000 Progressive Emu began developing an emu oil pain cream and added blue coloring to it, “thus birthed ‘Blue Emu.’” Nutrition & Fitness (NFI) was then “brought on board to… Continue reading
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All the Wrong Reasons
In a recent Trademark Reporter Commentary, I went on a tirade about a two district court cases that, in my view, misinterpreted Section 10 of the Lanham Act. Section 10 generally prohibits assignment of intent-to-use applications “except for an assignment to a successor to the business of the applicant, or portion thereof, to which the… Continue reading
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Pick Your Story
When you have one theory for one court, and a different theory for a later one, it probably isn’t going to turn out too well. In the latter suit before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Weber-Stephen Products, LLC, famous maker of grills, petitioned to cancel the registration for a stylized “Q” trademark owned by… Continue reading
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That’s Not How It Works
There is a common misperception that one can somehow grab rights by filing a trademark application. It just doesn’t work that way in the United States. Today’s schooling is from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Entertainingly, one party, Alvin Reed, Sr., is both petitioner and respondent (for a registered trademark) and opposer and applicant… Continue reading
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So Many Ways to Lose
The Trademark Blog tweeted CRYE v. DURO Would’ve liked to see discussion whether there can be protectable trade dress in a camoflage patternhttps://t.co/kF0jDU0gL8 — TrademarkBlog (@TrademarkBlog) April 30, 2016 Oh, but there are so many ways that the plaintiff was going to lose this lawsuit, and whether camouflage can have secondary meaning is so ordinary.… Continue reading
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