Great Concepts vs. Chutter is a case from the Federal Circuit that addressed the extent to which fraud at the Trademark Office can be punished in connection with a particular kind of application. The Federal Circuit ultimately reviewed and reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s long-standing practice of canceling trademarks when a renewal application…
In Re: Chestek is an unfortunate decision in the Federal Circuit addressing what at first blush is another boring regulation. However, it concerns a rule change that many practitioners worry could mean life or death, and arguably was promulgated in a manner that didn’t allow for proper notice and comment by the public. For decades,…
A client recently asked whether they should file their trademark not only in the US, but in other countries where they manufacture or sell their products. In Abitron Austria v. Hetronic, the U.S. Supreme Court provided the answer — and also served an opinion salad. The case began in the Western District of Oklahoma when…
Dueling food options faced off in the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois in Grubhub v. Kroger Co. This case was notable because it had been delegated to a magistrate judge, and the district judge rejected the subsequent report and recommendation. Kroger is a mega-corporation that owns several supermarket chains across the U.S.…
47 of these 50 United States have legalized or decriminalized some form of marijuana — yet transporting it between two legal states is still a federal crime. So, given the rule of federal law, and as we’ve said in other contexts, the USPTO will not allow registration of any trademark for products containing, in virtually…
Cervejaria Petropolis SA v. Ambev S.A. comes our way from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in D.C., via the TTAB. In this case, Ambev had applied to the USPTO for registration of the mark FUSION, but was barred by the registration of the appellant, Cervejaria Petropolis (CP) for the same mark. CP had inherited the FUSION…
I don’t usually take requests, but sometimes the popular demand is too much to ignore. I’ve been asked twice in one week about any advantages to registering on the Supplemental Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Often when one applies to the Principal Register of the USPTO, the examining attorney will say, in his or…
In the recent but now famous U.S. Supreme Court case of Iancu v. Brunetti, the mark in question was, as discussed at oral argument, a homonym of the past participle of a well known profanity — “F.U.C.T.” (which was purportedly meant to be pronounced by its initials). One of the niceties of both the oral argument and…
The 2018 Farm Bill (formally The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) made news for allowing the cultivation of hemp. Hemp is, of course, famous for being the working member of the cannabis family, while marijuana is more like the free-spirited snowboarder. As far as the government is concerned, the hemp-marijuana continuum is measured by the amount…
Many of my clients have been on the receiving end of misleading notices from companies pretending to be the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). These letters often contain details of the client’s trademark; the registration number; when it was filed; and accurate predictions as to when the next renewal is or what its status…