A trademark (or service mark) is something (really, anything) that helps your customers find you for what you sell. It helps them refer you to their friends so they find you, too. That means it has be able to be remembered and identified later as that. The fancy term is that it is “an indicator … Read more
A drag queen environmentalist builds a public identity that echoes one of the most recognized outdoor brands in the world. The names rhyme, the values overlap, the audiences intersect. Now both parties have to figure out what to do about it. To me, this feels less like an infringement story and more like a relationship … Read more
Font isn’t something people always think about when it comes to trademark. For many businesses, the words of their trademark are the words, and the form of the text is chosen because it “looks nice,” matches a vibe, or pairs well with the products or services. In actuality, stylized words are a form of logo mark in trademark, and they can be a big deal. Think of a particular stylized white cursive script against … Read more
Ferrara Candy Company, the maker of Nerds, recently filed a lawsuit against the maker of Dweebs candy. What looks like a quirky fight between two playful names is actually a cautionary tale for startups and small businesses building their brands. Ferrara has spent decades growing Nerds into a cultural touchstone. In 2024 alone, sales topped … Read more
We are seeing more and more scams related to trademarks. They are getting increasingly sophisticated. Please, please, please do not pay for anything over the phone. The USPTO never asks for money over the phone. The website is www.uspto.gov. It is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Some of the scams say things … Read more
In today’s digital era, the world of intellectual property is evolving rapidly. With technology making the technical aspects of filing trademark applications more accessible than ever, it might seem like the process is becoming straightforward. And to a certain extent, it is. With user-friendly USPTO interfaces, AI-driven tools, and abundant resources, the barriers to entry … Read more
When a fantastic trademark dispute arises, especially one involving superheroes, this trademark attorney cannot help but blog about it. The nature of this particular trademark dispute is epic, perhaps rising to the level worthy of a superhero blockbuster (or maybe that’s just this attorney’s trademark geekdom talking). In either event, like many legal disputes, this … Read more
As promised in an earlier blog post about Bulleit, bottle shapes, and blurring (“dilution” was the word I mostly used last time, but I was really eager for that alliteration), I am back with an updated blog post. As a recap to the earlier post, the case involves Diageo, the company that owns Bulleit Frontier … Read more
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