We’ve all done it. We’ve said we are going to do something…later. Then it never gets done. We are going to go to the gym. We are going to call our mom. We are going to write that thank you card, article, novel, etc. But it doesn’t get done. Or it gets done only after … Read more
Friday May 12, 2023 was a big day here at the office. Thanks to the efforts of City Brewing and Wisconsin Brewing Company, the Department of Revenue issued a declaratory ruling that approved contract production (through Alternating Proprietorships, or straight contract) between distilleries (and by extension and our reading of the statute, wineries too). This … Read more
For our readers that have gone through the process of developing a trademark, you are aware of how hard it can be to come up with a word or a series of words that best identify your brand and embody the goods or services you offer. Let’s now stretch that mental picture a little further: … Read more
What happens when two trademarks have the same spelling? Can they coexist? The answer is yes, but with some caveats. The Trademark Act provides for a system of trademark classes to categorize goods and services. Classes 1-34 cover goods, while classes 35-45 cover services. The use of the same trademark is permissible across different classes, … Read more
My staff teases me a lot about certain phrases that I repeat over and over (and over). They should. I would tease me a lot, too. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t keep repeating those things, though. A lot of the repeat-isms are things I say to myself even more often than I say to … Read more
Today’s post revisits something discussed several years ago on this blog: fair use. If you are looking for background or further reading, check out Erin’s posts here, here, and here, as well as Collin’s post here. As a quick TL;DR to those previous posts, fair use is a defense to copyright infringement claims for a … Read more
As a business owner, you are no doubt very busy: you are building your brand, perhaps considering applying for applicable trademarks, contracting with clients and vendors, or even considering selling or buying a business. Some of the small details associated with these events can seem trivial and unnecessary. When clients approach business lawyers with these … Read more
This post is about Chapter 4 of the Distilled Spirits Beverage Alcohol Manual (“BAM“). The BAM is the classification guide the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB“) will use to classify a distilled spirits product into a category (whisky, gin, vodka etc.) depending on its formula. This post is pretty short, but pretty nerdy. … Read more
If any readers have ever gotten in touch with OG+S regarding a potential trademark application, we have likely mentioned the possibility of doing a “preliminary screen” for your mark. This process, sometimes also referred to as a “knockout search”, helps trademark applicants get a sense of the field before they apply. Here at OG+S, we … Read more
There has been a bit of upheaval over the past few years, and it doesn’t look like 2023 is going to suddenly calm itself down. That means we continue to have the choice on how we view the external world and act upon our assessment. I propose that there are two dichotomies of options presented … Read more