Remember when I said that we’d have some follow-up to Carter’s Big Mac post? Well, here is one of those posts! Today, we’ll talk about what it means to “use” a trademark. Trademarks are creatures of the relationship between the source of a product and its customers. They don’t exist without the product or the … Read more
A previous version of this blog post failed to take into account some nuance and important facts, namely that Healthy Soap (R) was actually registered on the USPTO’s Supplemental Register. Thanks to our readers for bringing this to my attention and for allowing us to expand on some important trademark basics. As the father of … Read more
I like trademark law because it often just makes sense. For example, let’s talk about the requirement that a mark must be in use in order to obtain protection. For a trademark to be registered in the United States, it has to actually be used in a way that a customer sees the mark when … Read more
Working here at Ogden Glazer + Schaefer, you get to hear about all the interesting legal battles that happen around the world. Here is one that I am surprised did not get shared with you. [Note from Erin: This post was written by Carter, our high school assistant. He is not a lawyer. He is … Read more
Of course the news cycle wouldn’t allow me wrap up on Minnesota’s Adult Use Cannabis Law series at four posts (see the links for Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4)! It needed a fifth part, where I discuss the bill that was signed into law a few weeks ago. On May 24th, Governor Tim Walz … Read more
Non-compete agreements have been in the news lately because the FTC “banned” them. Yeah, it was in the boring section in the news, but I know I’m not the only one who saw it – as we’ve had questions. First, the FTC issued a final rule. That’s an administrative rule, not a law, but lots … Read more
This post is the fourth and final (for now) part in a multi-part series on Minnesota’s Adult Use Cannabis Law. Feel free to check out Parts 1-3 here, here, and here. The last post talked about medical cannabis. This next post will focus on the implications of recent news coverage (like this one from the … Read more
As a firm of trademark and alcohol attorneys, it’s always a thrill when those two topics collide, especially on a major stage. We had one of those great moments of serendipity last week. The story begins with Diageo, the company that owns Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, a brand of whiskey that might be familiar to our … Read more
[Continuing our theme from last week.] Another lie is that we can multitask. We’ve all done it; we’ve tried to do two things at once. Reading email while on a phone call, filing documents during a webinar, direct messaging while writing a memo. We think “Look how busy I am! And I got two things … Read more
This blog post builds on my previous post. This time I will be covering fair use for trademarks instead of copyright. Much like copyright, there are exceptions and limits to what protection owning a trademark can provide you, including what is and is not infringement. Fair use in the trademark space breaks down into two … Read more