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... virtually every possible legal issue: from a Sherman Act antitrust claim to abuse of process and tortious interference claims (in violation of Pennsylvania’s Dragonetti Act). At least two tribunals have been involved: a federal district court and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (TTAB). Would you be surprised to learn that one of the two firms already sued its lawyer for legal malpractice? Incidentally, please read a legal disclaimer at the bottom of this ...

On November 14, 2016, the Federal Circuit handed a small but important victory to a small Illinois church in its trademark saga dispute with adidas AG, a sport apparel giant, reversing the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) decision in adidas AG v. Christian Faith Fellowship Church, Cancellation No. 92053314 (September 14, 2015) [not precedential]....

... a legal entity, which had marketed vodka under that brand both domestically and abroad, since 1944 and prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The state-owned entity, The All-Union Association Sojuzplodoimport ("V/O-SPI";), registered a trademark for "STOLICHNAYA" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in February 1969 (Registration No. 865,462), as the primary STOLI brand (the STOLI Marks”). In early 1990s, the Soviet government began reforms to change its ...

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 ...

In the previous Blog posting I discussed most significant trademark cases of 2015 (http://maxvoltchenko.com/en/blog/Sputnik/most-important-us-trademark-court-cases-of-2015-personal-and-very-unof/). This installment deals with a particular issue, which perhaps did not get enough coverage in the media: fee-shifting ...

... and magazines compile various rankings. Legal publications come up with lists of most important cases or events of 2015. The Sputnik Blog will not miss this opportunity and do some reflecting and ranking of its own. The Sputnik Blog discussed many trademark cases in 2015. Some of those cases made it to various unofficial rankings of most important US legal cases. Take for example, Top 10 Trademark Rulings Of 2015 (http://www.law360.com/articles/733988/top-10-trademark-rulings-of-2015) of IP360....

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 ...

... Inc. v. Hana Bank, case number 13-1211. No surprises. Unanimously, the nine justices of the Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s ruling and held that a jury should decide whether tacking is available in a jury case. Under the tacking doctrine, a trademark owner is permitted to make certain modifications to its mark over time without losing priority, i.e., the date of first use of the older mark, when there is a dispute with another party as to who used the mark first. This Blog reported about ...

Brand names and especially logos change over time. Trademarks change either early in life (Mark Zuckerberg dropped the article ‘the” in before it even became famous as Facebook) or when they modernize with the times. Take the BURGER KING logo as an example: Sometimes, usually after a brand ...

On December 2, the Supreme Court held an oral argument on an issue that directly impacts one of the most important strategic decisions a trademark litigator makes: whether to oppose (cancel) someone’s trademark in a Trademark Office’s administrative proceeding or sue that party in a district court. The issue came from B&B Hardware Inc. v. Hargis Industries Inc. et al., and is framed ...

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 ...

On September 4, 2014, the Third Circuit, the circuit that covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Virgin Islands, made it easier for a winning party to recover attorneys’ fees from a losing party in a trademark case. Fair Wind Sailing, Inc. v. Dempster, Nos. 13-3305 & 14-1572, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 17118 (Sept. 4, 2014). In U.S., each litigant generally pays its own attorneys’ fees, win or lose, unless a special statute applies. As I wrote earlier ...

The Office of Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the EU Trademark Office, rejected Pinterest’s opposition against the PINTEREST trademark application filed by news website Premium Interest (http://www.premiuminterest.com/). Pinterest.com describes itself as a visual discovery and planning tool. People ...

... subscribe, please go to this webpage. Apple apparently already killed the APP STORE brand, if it was a brand. What’s next? Does the iPhone brand have a chance to survive? Apple is willing to take the risk. This week Apple decided not to pursue its trademark infringement claim against Amazon for the violation of its APP STORE mark and agreed to the dismissal of its lawsuit. In its lawsuit, Apple claimed that it coined the term APP STORE and began using it on July 10, 2008. (On July 17, 2008, Apple ...

INTA-2013 is over. Four days of intense networking, educational and professional development, as well as committee meetings and exhibits were gone in no time. (The official program of the Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA), a must-attend event in the intellectual property field, is five days, but many US attendees leave on the last day.) For those who have not attended, the program includes valuable skill-building workshops, industry breakouts ...

... I thought to myself: “Now the game will begin….” Another moment we will remember is the hype before the game and the expectations the 49ers put on themselves. Days before the Super Bowl, the 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick rushed to the Trademark Office to apply to register his name. See our previous Blog posting. His performance was not by any account a failure, but the 49ers did not win the Super Bowl. Maybe there is a reason some cultures (particularly the Russian) are superstitious ...

... touch-screen model and which is with physical keyboard? I suppose Q stands for the QWERTY keyboard. Thus, Q10 means a smartphone with a physical keyboard. Where does the Z in Z10 come from then? IMHO, BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Torch were much better trademarks for the respective smartphones. Sorry for this digression. Is it possible that change of BlackBerry’s company name was largely a move to improve its brand identity on the stock market? Perhaps some investors, particularly those who are ...

Is well-known athlete’s decision to trademark his name weeks before he actually may (or may not) make the history a smart move or premature. When Maria Sharapova came up with the name “Sugarpova” for her candy business, many thought that was cute, original and well-timed. When 49ers’ ...