Fan fiction is material created by fans of a piece of work rather than the owners or creators. Movies, television shows and books all have fans that have spun off their own stories, drawings, movies and more. The fans take characters created by another on new adventures, some within canonical fictional universe, some decidedly not. … Read more
I admit it, one of my favorite things about craft beer is the clever names. There are puns, odd references, and just plain silliness. It just tickles my fancy. But they are also trademarks, and as more beers come on the market, there are more chances for conflict. These disputes have been highlighted by several … Read more
After asking friends, family, and strangers sitting next to you at the bar what they think of it, you have finally decided on a name for your newest product. Now you want to protect it with a federal trademark, but how do you do that? First, I assume that you have already searched the mark … Read more
Often when people are trying to find a trademark for their good or service, they want a mark that hearkens back to whatever it is that they are selling. They want their customer to “know” what it is the customer is buying. But as we have discussed earlier, descriptiveness can be bad. So what is … Read more
Often when looking to register a trademark, we have to discuss registering a word mark versus a logo. Clients often default to registering words in a very specific font. However, that locks the mark into that font. Whereas, if we register it as a word mark, then a change in font doesn’t destroy the registration. … Read more
Intellectual property rights all come with their very own symbols. They are signs to others about what type of rights are being claimed. I am sure you have seen them, but not everyone is sure which symbol belongs to which right. So let’s go back to grade school, do a matching game. Didn’t know there … Read more
Intellectual property tends to be a land of first come-first serve. Patents are only awarded to inventions that are new and non-obvious, which means your invention isn’t the logical next step based on what is already out in the world. Trademark protection looks at what marks potential customers have come into contact with in connection … Read more
Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1052(a), is an absolute bar to federal trademark registration of immoral or scandalous matter. The ban on scandalous and immoral trademark registrations is not new. It first came into federal law in the Trade-Mark Act of 1905 and reaffirmed as part of §2(a) of the Act of 1946. … Read more
Somehow, somewhere, applying for a trademark became an invitation for junk mail and spam. It’s annoying, but some are worse than others. Some of the worst are notices that look like they are from the United States Patent and Trademark Office or foreign offices telling applicants they need to spend more money in order to … Read more
Just like Steve Rogers through his transition to Captain America, trademarks vary in strength. Some are burly superheroes, and some are weaklings hiding behind their bigger friends for protection. What makes a mark strong versus weak? The level of which your mark describes the good or service that you are selling. There is a spectrum … Read more