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The US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Board of Appeals affirmed a refusal of an application for the trademark TIME TRAVELER BLONDE for beer over the prior mark TIME TRAVELER for “beer, ale and lager” despite the consent by the owner of the cited mark. In re Bay State Brewing Company,...

... was in favor of a band called The Slants that was denied a registration on the grounds that its name was a racial slur. The Federal Circuit, an appeals court, overturned a pervious ruling that upheld the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) rejection of the band's application by striking down a provision of U.S Trademark Act as unconstitutional, Section 2(a). Under Section 2(a), the USPTO could reject trademarks it deemed offensive or disparaging to others. The Court has said that ...

The owner of the REUBEN’S BREWS mark took the risk, appealed the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) refusal to the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or the Board) and won. It can now drink the Champagne as the victor. ""Beer [or wine?] is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"" Ben Franklin ...

On March 2, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in which the TTAB cancelled the registration of David Couture for the PLAYDOM service mark for entertainment services. CAFC agreed with the TTAB that actual rendering of services is required for a service mark to be considered to be “used in commerce” under the U.S. Trademark Act (also known as Lanham Act). Under U.S. Law for a trademark or service mark of...

On January 17, 2015, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reduced certain trademark fees, namely it introduced the new filing option “TEAS Reduced Fee” or TEAS RF application filing option. (For you, acronym buffs, TEAS stands for Trademark Electronic Application System.) On November 23, 2014, this ...

As a trademark attorney, I see scores of trademark registrations getting cancelled in US Trademark Office (USPTO). Many of them are not necessarily deadwood. Main reason is that trademark owners forget (or do not know) about the maintenance and renewal requirements. If the owners are not represented by an attorney before the USPTO, there is no one to remind ...

The ninth commandment of the Bible reminds us not to lie. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or the Board) of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reiterated this commandment in its own way when it cancelled the application of an insurance agent who tried to register the mark NATIONSTAR in an opposition proceeding and was not truthful, in the TTAB’s view. Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Mujahid ...