Category Archives: Announcements

Upcoming Event: Boston Trademark Roundtable with the USPTO (September 17, 2019)

The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and Foley Hoag are pleased to invite you to an open roundtable discussion with USPTO officials Meryl Hershkowitz (Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Operations, United States Patent and Trademark Office) and Larry Stanley (Interlocutory Attorney, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board).

Topics will cover a range of USPTO trademark operations, procedures, and policies, including the recent and upcoming changes to representation of foreign applicants,… More

Intellectual Property Strategies for Start-Up Companies

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our collection of IP-focused blog posts directed to start-up companies, this one focusing on cybersecurity.  Here is the complete collection:

Trademark Strategies for Start-Up Companies

Copyright Strategies for Start-Up Companies

Patent Strategies For Start-Up Companies

Domain Name Strategies for Start-Up Companies

Privacy and Data Security Strategies for Start-Up Companies

Foley Hoag provides a full range of services to start-up companies,… More

A Gem On The Mediterranean – 10 Things To See And Do While Attending The INTA Annual Meeting In Barcelona

Barcelona may be my favorite city in the world.  It is certainly a top contender.  Because one of my dearest friends is a native Barcelonian, I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited multiple times, and I have also had one of the best tour guides you could hope for.  So when I found out that the 2017 International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting (May 20 -24) was being held in BCN (a common abbreviation for the city and its airport),… More

Foley Hoag Intellectual Property Department Welcomes Marion Cavalier

We are delighted to announce that Marion Cavalier has joined the firm as an associate in our Paris office.  Marion’s practice encompasses patent, trademark, copyright and commercial litigation.  Marion also advises clients on data protection, defamation, privacy and contract. Her experience spans a broad range of industries with particular emphasis on the technology, media and telecommunications sectors.

We sat down with Marion to ask her about her practice and her views on some of the IP issues of the day.… More

Beth Hella Receives National Docketing Association’s First-Ever Lifetime Achievement Award

bethCongratulations to Beth Hella, Senior Trademark Administration Manager at Foley Hoag LLP, who recently received the first ever Lifetime Achievement award presented by the National Docketing Association (NDA).  Beth was honored for her dedication and commitment to the NDA and for her perseverance in the advancement and education of docketing professionals.

Beth served as Treasurer of the NDA for four years before resigning from the Board at the end of 2015 to join the NDA’s Education Committee and initiate the creation the NDA Resource Library,… More

Trademark and Copyright Law Blog Co-Editor David Kluft to Speak on Intellectual Property and Social Media Law

MeDavid Kluft, co-editor of the Trademark and Copyright Law Blog and Intellectual Property partner at Foley Hoag LLP, will be speaking at the 19th Annual New England Intellectual Property Law Conference.  The conference, sponsored by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, will take place beginning at 12:30pm on June 23, 2016 at the MCLE Conference Center, Ten Winter Place in Boston. … More

Trademark and Copyright Law News: January – March 2016

CaptureEarlier today, the Foley Hoag Trademark and Copyright group released its quarterly Trademark & Copyright Law Newsletter, which includes links to a selection of recent blog posts and news about our group. You can find the full newsletter here.

News highlights this quarter include:

Edge Cases in Copyright

If you are in the Boston area on Feb. 2 and want to hear me and Dan Booth prattle on about weird copyright cases while eating and drinking free stuff with other copyright nerds, please stop by the hip-chic-trendy Seaport this coming Tuesday! Remember to register.

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Don’t miss this CSUSA New England Chapter program!

Edge Cases in Copyright: Theoretical Problems and Practical Answers

February 2,… More

USPTO Pilot Program Offers Relief to Proprietors of “Evolving” Goods and Services

Imagine, for a moment, a successful software company, Agave, that owns the trademark PHOTOCHOPS for a popular image-editing program.  Being a diligent trademark owner, Agave registered the trademark PHOTOCHOPS in 2005, right when the original PHOTOCHOPS launched, in connection with “downloadable computer programs for creating and manipulating graphic images on a computer” in International Class 9.  Over the years, the PHOTOCHOPS platform slowly shifts from downloadable software to a pure software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform,… More

Top Eight Things You Should Know About the Hague System For International Registration of Designs

CaptureU.S. applicants will soon be able to use a streamlined international filing procedure for design patents similar to the Madrid Protocol for trademark registrations.  Currently, U.S. applicants seeking to protect designs in multiple countries must file separate applications for each of the countries through their national or regional patent offices.  Starting May 13, 2015, when the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs goes into effect in the U.S.,… More

.PORN and .ADULT Join .XXX to Form Unsexy Threesome for Brand Owners

Porn

Yesterday marked the sunrise launch of the .porn and .adult generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which join .xxx in the top-level domain name space as gTLDs targeted mainly at online purveyors of adult entertainment.  As with .xxx, the introduction of these adult-themed gTLDs presents yet another annoyance for trademark owners already fatigued by the weekly onslaught of gTLDs introduced over the past couple of years pursuant to ICANN’s expansion of the domain name space. … More

AdCode 2.0: Better Business Bureau Updates Advertising Code to Keep Up With Technology

The Better Business Bureau announced last Thursday that it has amended its Code of Advertising to address the new and evolving ways in which advertisers reach consumers through technology.  The Better Business Bureau is the administrative parent of the advertising industry’s self-regulatory bodies, including the National Advertising Division.

As advertisers market to consumers who spend more time looking at smart phones and computer screens than television screens and magazines (the traditional media of mass-market advertising),… More

Opportunities for Trademark and Copyright Lawyers To Volunteer During Pro Bono Month

CaptureOctober is Pro Bono Month in many states, including Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Indiana, Tennessee, and Alabama.  The ABA has created an annual weeklong National Pro Bono Celebration, which this year is October 19-25.  Recognizing the countless lawyers who devote their time and efforts to representing people of limited means, and urging all lawyers to do more, these pronouncements remind us that every attorney has an ethical responsibility to make sure that our system of justice is open to all persons,… More

Dispatch from NYC:  Annual National Advertising Division (NAD) Conference is in Full Swing  

CaptureThe National Advertising Division is holding its annual conference this week in New York, and Foley Hoag is in attendance for what many consider to be the leading conference of its kind.  Day One saw an impressive line-up of panelists and speakers, beginning with an address by Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, who outlined areas of particular focus over the coming year:  weight loss claims, cognitive benefit claims,… More

The Trademark “Chaff” Quandary: PTO Report On Post-Registration Proof of Use

Mag GlassAs any IP lawyer will readily admit, trademark practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) comes with its fair share of annoyances: inconsistent treatment of similar applications, unreasonably stringent identification requirements, and so forth. Another difficulty lies in what appears to be a large number of registrations subsisting on the federal register, past their initial maintenance filings, despite a high likelihood that such marks are no longer used,… More

Recent Copyright And Trademark Administrative Developments

Some recent administrative developments may be of interest to copyright and trademark practitioners:

Copyright Fees

Effective May 1, 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office has amended its registration fee schedule.  This includes reduced renewal application fees and increased fees for registering multiple works.  A complete list of the new fees is available here.

Updated Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP)

On April 30,… More

“Please Sir, I Want Some More” Rules: U.S. Copyright Office Considers “Orphan” Works Legislation

The U.S. Copyright Office has called for public comment on potential legislative solutions to the problem of orphan works under U.S. Copyright law.

An orphan work is an original work of authorship whose author cannot be located or identified when someone is seeking permission to use it. For example, say you want to reprint a photograph in a book, but you can’t identify or locate the photographer,… More

Foley Hoag Attorneys to Screen Provocative, Academy Award-Winning LOGORAMA Film and Lead Discussion of Copyright and Trademark Fair Use Issues

Honestly, who hasn’t fantasized at some point about Ronald McDonald grabbing an Uzi and slaughtering his way through corporate America?  LOGORAMA, the Academy Award-winning animated short, involves a gritty police chase set in a Los Angeles-inspired cityscape entirely populated by over 2,500 contemporary and historical trademarks and logos.  We couldn’t let this provocative and fascinating film pass completely without notice in the legal community. More

On June 25,…