The Madrid Protocol makes it possible to extend protections from an international registration to the United States. A United States District Court has just cautioned practitioners that they must satisfy the intent to use requirements for all United States trademark applications before availing themselves of this tool. A recent contest between Oatly AB and D’s…
The jury instruction improperly stated that the plaintiff was required to show willfulness for an award of profits. Jury instructions given during a trial over whether a whale-watching company and its affiliates violated the Lanham Act by engaging in materially false or misleading advertising about their business failed to recite the correct legal standard, the…
Background Craft and industrial products (CIPs) are a specific category of non-agricultural products originating in a certain geographic area and having a specific reputation for their qualities such as Brač stone or Murano glass. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origins and Geographical Indications (the Geneva Act) provides an international legal…
In January 2020, Volkswagen (VW, the Opponent) filed an opposition against this trade mark application, alleging a likelihood of confusion with its earlier 3D shape registrations . The Applicant’s mark covered camping vehicles and camping equipment and VW’s earlier marks cover broad vehicle and furniture terms. The opposition was initially dismissed by the EUIPO…
By Janice Bereskin, Toba Cooper and Luca Manfredi. Barely five years after Canada’s “green rush”, interest in psychedelics for both medical and recreational use has increased dramatically. According to current estimates, the industry will grow at double-digit annual rates between now and 2027. Trademark practitioners expect a repeat of the cannabis trademark rush, but this…
Andorran tobacco leaves (© Guia Andorra, https://en.guiandorra.com/post/the-manufacture-of-tobacco-a-production-full-of-tradition-and-of-great-economic-weight). It should not be that strange that in a world where everything can be sold (well, almost) even States might think to capitalize on their own names and thus seek protection of the same as a trademark. However, getting one registered seems increasingly difficult and as confirmed…
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) properly refused to register the mark “.SUCKS,” in standard characters and a stylized pixelated font, for failure to function as mark for the applicant’s domain name registry operator services, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled. Substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that consumers…
This case ABP Technology Ltd v Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc. & Anor (Rev1) [2021] – EWHC 3096 (Ch) (19 November 2021) concerns two parties using highly similar/identical marks (STEALTH) on identical goods. This article discusses some key takeaway points arising from their dispute, as well as the tactics that the parties used. Both parties were involved…
Traditional limitations on trademarking a personal name give way to free speech interests when it comes to prominent public officials. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board violated the First Amendment rights of a trademark applicant when it denied registration to his t-shirt that disparaged former President Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal…
In the US an intent-to-use (“ITU”) trademark application may be filed by “a person who has a bona fide intention, under circumstances showing the good faith of such person, to use a trademark in commerce” later. 15 U.S.C. § 1051.The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has long maintained that to qualify for a…
