Tag Archives: Trademarks

It’s been a few years since we first wrote about the 5Pointz dispute, where graffiti artists first tried to prevent the destruction of their works by the owner of the spray-painted buildings, and then sought money damages for their destruction. Gerald Wolkoff, who initially allowed and encouraged the creation of the artwork on his buildings, is widely portrayed as the “bad guy” in this story. … More

The Intersection of Trademarks, Advertising and Corporate Social Responsibility

Protecting the value of your corporate brand is a critical mission. As companies are increasingly asked to make disclosures regarding their efforts to address social and environmental risks, these disclosures create both opportunities and challenges for those entrusted with protecting a company’s intangible assets.

In this webinar, we explore the interrelationship between trademarks, false advertising and emerging compliance requirements in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR).… More

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) 2018 kicks off on Thursday, February 8 through Friday, February 16, with a full schedule of exciting and exhilarating runway shows. This year’s designers include many of the usual faces, like Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, and Jason Wu, to name a few. As usual, there is some controversy concerning designers that are notably missing from this year’s schedule, like Georgina Chapman’s label Marchesa.… More

2016 is now in the rear view mirror. At the beginning of a new year, we often take a moment to reflect on the past year, while setting goals for the present.  It’s a time to say, “Last year had its ups and downs, but this year I’m going to . . .”  There are so many choices; what will 2017 hold? Between this article’s two authors,… More

On June 23, the citizens of the UK voted Yes to the question “Should the UK leave the European Union?” Here are some answers to questions that we are hearing from trademark owners.

Question 1. Is now a good time to panic?

Uncertainty creates stress but we have at least one certainty: from a strictly legal point of view, there will be no immediate impact.… More

No matter how sophisticated we are on the outside, on the inside everyone has a favorite novelty t-shirt buried deep in the recesses of their juvenile subconscious.  Mine is one that says “Welcome to Philadelphia.  Now Go Home,” which so perfectly captures both the convivial pride and bewildering hostility of the city that raised me.

Many five-year olds these days have a different favorite t-shirt,… More

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from miser to profligate is marked by his purchase of a turkey for the Cratchit family.  Turkey used to be a luxury food, in most households suitable only for special occasions.  In the 1930’s, Americans ate an average of only 1.7 pounds of turkey each year (compared to about 20 pounds today).… More

 From AMC’s white-hot series The Walking Dead to the box office hit World War Z, the fictional zombie apocalypse is on a roll.  Be forewarned, however: there may be a real undead threat lurking in your local supermarket or shopping mall, namely the zombie trademark.  See, e.g., Anne Gilson Lalonde & Jerome Gilson, Gilson on Trademarks § 3.05 (2013) (discussing potential problems posed to consumers by zombie trademarks). … More

The People’s Republic of China is considered by some to be the next great economic superpower, and U.S. companies seeking to gain a foothold in the Chinese marketplace often begin by attempting to secure trademark rights in China for their many brands, famous and otherwise.  However, they are often stymied by China’s complicated trademark registration system, a body of law relatively unfriendly to well-known foreign brands,… More

Unless you are Leonardo Da Vinci or Julius Caesar, you would probably have trouble registering your last name as a trademark.  This is because last names are not generally considered to be inherently distinctive enough to qualify for trademark protection without proof of secondary meaning.  However, there is an exception for historical names that are likely to be recognized by the public as referring not to an ordinary surname,… More

An interesting debate recently occurred in the New England Journal of Medicine between a physician and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding whether the letters X and Z are used too frequently in pharmaceutical trademarks.

As most of our readers are well aware, the touchstone of whether any two trademarks can coexist in the U.S. — on the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) registers and in the marketplace —… More