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WWE takes on more trademark applications

WWE takes on more trademark applications

What is WWE? WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) can be traced back as far as 1952 and is an American professional wrestling company. It identifies itself as a ‘global integrated media and entertainment company’, and has features within films, American football, and...

Lord of the Bins comes under a ring of fire!!

Lord of the Bins comes under a ring of fire!!

Lord of the Bins!! A very creative name don’t you think?? However… The waste collection company based in Brighton have been approached by the legal team for the Lord of the Rings franchise and have asked them to change their name and their strapline “One Ring to...

Eminem gets “Shady” with the Real Housewives’ cast members

While many of us enjoyed a romantic evening with our significant others on Valentine’s Day this year, the American rapper Marshall B. Mathers III (aka Eminem) had some not-so-romantic plans. On February 14, 2023, Eminem took legal action to protect his trademark...

Five predictions that will shape the future of IP and brand protection

Counterfeiting costs the global economy $500 Billion annually. One of the biggest trends that has contributed to the rise in counterfeit and pirated products is simply the expansion of ecommerce, online shops, and purchasing products through social media. It's very...

100% THAT BITCH is 100% a Trademark

100% THAT BITCH is 100% a Trademark

Nearly four years after first filing applications to register 100% THAT BITCH as a trademark for use in connection with clothing, Lizzo has won approval from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) for her applications to proceed to publication.  While the journey...

Mochi do about goods – unpacking a common trademark myth

Mochi do about goods – unpacking a common trademark myth

There are several dangerous myths circulating about trademarks and how they work. One of the myths I encounter most often relates to likelihood of confusion analysis. Trademark owners, especially small business owners, commonly believe that if their products or...

Has the practice for color, black and white trademarks changed?

Has the practice for color, black and white trademarks changed?

The latest practice of EUIPO and countries which harmonized their practice in the field of trademarks establishes a new concept and rules laid down in three important aspects of trademark registration: PRIORITY - a trademark in black and white from which priority is...

More Copyright News

The INTA Pro Bono EntreprenuHERship Program

The INTA Pro Bono EntreprenuHERship Program

On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 11AM EST, the International Trademark Association (INTA) is celebrating International Women’s Day by hosting a virtual legal clinic focused on entreprenuHERship. This online program is a single-day event, designed like a walk-in legal...

Storm in a Can of FANTA

Storm in a Can of FANTA

Current political situation added shades to intellectual property cases. Some foreign companies left the Russian market and this makes us cast a new look on the situation on the Russian market. Contrary to the opinion of analysts Russian intellectual property has not...

Revisions may be on the horizon for Trademark Law in China

Revisions may be on the horizon for Trademark Law in China

Recently, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued a notice on public solicitation of comments on the Revised Draft of the Trademark Law (Draft for Comments). China's trademark law is facing the fifth revision since its promulgation in 1983....

Monster Energy’s recent failed opposition over PREDATOR

Monster Energy’s recent failed opposition over PREDATOR

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) dismissed an opposition claimed by Monster Energy Company against TM Reg no. 6471165 for the stylized PREDATOR mark in class 30 by finding dissimilarity of goods between ‘coffee, tea, cocoa’ and ‘carbonated beverages, energy drink’ in...

Huge leap in number of legal professionals with career concerns

Huge leap in number of legal professionals with career concerns

LawCare, the mental health charity for legal professionals in the UK, today released new support statistics and its impact report LawCare's 2022 impact report shows that nearly a quarter (22%) of people contacting LawCare for support were primarily concerned about...

Emily in Paris revealing lessons for personal name brand protection

Emily in Paris revealing lessons for personal name brand protection

Are there really IP lessons to learn from the glamorous adventures of a girl working at a marketing agency in Paris?  Yes, yes there are! One of the joys of being a trademark lawyer is that the fruits of your labor can be seen on the high street, in magazines and all...

Harry Styles hits back at online counterfeiters with IP claim

Harry Styles hits back at online counterfeiters with IP claim

Harry Styles, arguably one of the most recognizable names and faces in pop music, has taken legal action relating to a significant issue with the music industry. The music industry is an all-consuming one, in which followers of their favorite artist don’t stop with...

A stripy situation – Adidas in dispute with Thom Browne

A stripy situation – Adidas in dispute with Thom Browne

Adidas and luxury fashion brand Thom Browne are engaged in a jury trial over Thom Browne’s use of a four-stripe design on apparel and footwear. Adidas is seeking nearly $8 million in damages alleging Thom Browne’s use of its four-stripe design infringes and dilutes...

Intellectual property in blockchain and e-gaming

Intellectual property in blockchain and e-gaming

Is your love for cats shackled by a fear of commitment? Dreams of adopting an eternal, one-of-a-kind cat have been fulfilled by Daper Lab Cryptokitties- a blockchain-based game, wherein all the cryptokittes are essentially NFTs(Non-Fungible Tokens). Gaming industry is...

Iceland Foods loses long-lasting trademark battle

Iceland Foods loses long-lasting trademark battle

Iceland Foods Limited recently lost a battle in the long lasting trademark war of the Icelands, retailer and country. By way of decisions on 15 December 2022, the Grand Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (‘EUIPO’) rejected Iceland Foods...

Scent trademark registration

Scent trademark registration

Technically, smell does classify as being one of the non-traditional trademarks under laws of few countries such as USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Korea, Peru, Colombia, France. The UAE trademarks law i.e., Federal Decree-Law No (36) of 2021, also provides...

Guns N’ Roses files suit against TEXAS GUNSANDROSES.COM

Guns N’ Roses files suit against TEXAS GUNSANDROSES.COM

Rock band Guns N’ Roses filed a trademark infringement suit in a California federal district court against a Texas-based store that sells guns and rose flowers under the name Texas Guns and Roses (or, <Texas Guns and Roses.com>). See generally, Complaint, Guns...

Banksy isn’t monkeying around when it comes to EU trademarks

Banksy isn’t monkeying around when it comes to EU trademarks

Background Pest Control Office Limited (the “EUTM proprietor”), on behalf of Banksy, sought to register the figurative mark of a monkey wearing a sign (figure 1) in a number of categories, including games, clothing and education. The mark was registered on 8 June...

Santa Claus’ suit causes problems for business

Santa Claus’ suit causes problems for business

Santa Claus’ suit is protected as a registered community design. This may be a serious problem for business Why will this year’s Christmas be unexpectedly difficult for everybody profiting from Santa’s outfit? As it turns out, a Polish entrepreneur successfully...

USPTO implements expedited office action response deadlines

USPTO implements expedited office action response deadlines

As the end of 2022 approaches, important changes are coming to the trademark prosecution process before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Trademark practitioners and applicants must be aware of the new deadline, effective December 3, 2022, and...

INTA Elects Jomarie Fredericks as 2023 President

INTA Elects Jomarie Fredericks as 2023 President

The International Trademark Association (INTA) is pleased to announce the election of Jomarie Fredericks as the 2023 President of the Association and the Chair of its Board of Directors. Ms. Fredericks is Deputy General Counsel, Chief Intellectual Property and Brand...

Trademark ignorance is burning Elon Musk’s Twitter to the ground

Trademark ignorance is burning Elon Musk’s Twitter to the ground

More money more problems October 27, 202, Elon Musk finally acquired Twitter, for $44 billion. The price tag brings with it a desperate need to increase Twitters revenue. Like most of social media, Twitters main revenue stream is advertising. Despite his efforts Musk...

AI generated art – who owns the rights?

AI generated art – who owns the rights?

If you have not heard of OpenAI’s machine learning models DALL·E and DALL·E 2, the link is here: https://openai.com/dall-e-2/. It’s absolutely amazing, we would suggest you have a go before reading this article. The prompt “Hamster playing the violin out at sea by...

Deepfakes and intellectual property rights

Deepfakes and intellectual property rights

The myriad of intellectual property issues arising from the creation and use of deepfakes recently came to prominence when Apple announced that it had obtained a US patent for a method for the creation of deepfakes. It showed that deepfake technology has come of age...

Seeing red: Monster v Redbull

Seeing red: Monster v Redbull

Background Two of the biggest players in the energy drinks game come head to head in this trademark dispute. As Monster Energy appealed a decision refusing Monster’s application to register the mark ‘Red Dawg’. At the original hearing Red Bull had opposed registration...

Pasternak v Prescott – a winning story

Pasternak v Prescott – a winning story

Lara Prescott has won the copyright case brought against her by Anna Pasternak in respect of Ms Pasternak’s book, Lara, with the Judge finding that copyright in Ms Pasternak’s book has not been infringed by Lara Prescott’s book, The Secrets We Kept (“TSWK”). Ms...

Parodies – To Be Or Not To Be?

Parodies – To Be Or Not To Be?

Imitation is the highest form of flattery”, however, what about in the circumstances where the subject of a parody are trademark owners? Most often, trademark owners find it difficult to accept that it is a compliment. E.g., the case between Gucci v Cuggl 2022; Gucci...

World Mental Health day, 10/10/22/:10 reasons to contact LawCare

World Mental Health day, 10/10/22/:10 reasons to contact LawCare

As World Mental Health Day falls on the 10th day of the 10th month here are 10 reasons why you might consider reaching out to legal mental health charity LawCare for support. Everyone you'll speak to on the phone, email or online chat either works in, or has worked in...

Full programme announced for Lawcare’s inaugural conference

Full programme announced for Lawcare’s inaugural conference

Learn more about how to improve the culture in the law and how to make your legal organisation a happy and healthy place to work Legal mental health charity LawCare has announced the full line up of speakers for its online conference ‘Building a Better Life in the...

Maintaining your Caribbean trademarks with certainty

Maintaining your Caribbean trademarks with certainty

Whilst some countries in the Caribbean have an efficient trademark renewal process, for the most part renewals cannot be filed electronically and can be more time-consuming than brand owners and foreign trademark practitioners may expect based on their own local...

3D bottle shaped trademark: how colors may affect distinctiveness

3D bottle shaped trademark: how colors may affect distinctiveness

The decision-making practice and approaches of EU institutions regarding the provision of legal protection to three-dimensional trademarks (3D trademarks) are not consistent and unambiguous when assessing the presence of a distinctive character of the product shape,...

Avoiding consumer confusion: IP and greenwashing

Avoiding consumer confusion: IP and greenwashing

With climate change in the hearts and minds of people all over the world, now more than ever, consumers are conscious of making environmentally friendly decisions. The increased availability of eco-friendly and sustainable goods and services (or so-called ‘green’...

How to stop trademark lookalikes (and hypocrites)

How to stop trademark lookalikes (and hypocrites)

 It has been a good few months for unfair advantage claims, presenting opportunities for brand owners to decisively tackle lookalikes. Hoisting Lidl by their own petard Serial copycats Lidl are suing Tesco in the High Court for trademark infringement in respect of...

House of Zana wins against Zara in trademark battle

House of Zana wins against Zara in trademark battle

Retail giant, Zara, tried to get Darlington-based fashion boutique, House of Zana, which specializes in handmade kimonos, to change its name. Mrs Kotrri, whose husband is Albanian, set up her company in 2019 and named it after the Albanian word for "fairies", namely...

Is Quidditch being held back by a snitch?

Is Quidditch being held back by a snitch?

Quidditch first appeared as a fictious sport in the JK Rowling novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, where it is played by wizards and witches riding magical flying broomsticks. It famously continued to feature in later Harry Potter books, as well as the...

Damages or compensation. The choice to make for infringement in Russia

Damages or compensation. The choice to make for infringement in Russia

Protection of IP in Russia is often being discussed in the media nowadays and judging by the publications that one may see Russia tends to dismiss any rights vested in IP which is outright wrong. In the meantime, IP life goes on as usual and infringement is active as...

Consequences of Brexit on trademarks and designs

Consequences of Brexit on trademarks and designs

Just over six years ago, the United Kingdom voted to exit the European Union.  With most of the provisions affecting the protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property settled, now is a good time to reflect on the impact on brand owners and the future...

A look inside the Carbone infringement litigation

A look inside the Carbone infringement litigation

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.” While William Shakespeare may have been of the opinion that the naming of things is irrelevant, trademark lawyers take a very different view. In fact, recently filed trademark...

How Wimbledon Tennis trademarked its signature colors

How Wimbledon Tennis trademarked its signature colors

The end of June marked the return of one of the most important events in the sporting calendar and one of the most iconic tennis tournaments in the world: Wimbledon. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (the “Club”) has owned multiple registered trademarks for the...

Can the word “The” be trademarked?

Can the word “The” be trademarked?

Back in 2011, The Ohio State University failed to trademark the word [1]" the," with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Court held, “In order for a trademark to be registered for a brand of clothing, the trademark must be used in a trademark fashion. In other...

Mewburn Ellis announces firmwide menopause policy

Mewburn Ellis announces firmwide menopause policy

IP firm launches comprehensive set of measures to encourage discussion and support colleagues experiencing the menopause with firmwide menopause policy European IP firm Mewburn Ellis has launched a firmwide menopause policy to encourage discussion around, and support...

Winners of the 2022 ACG Awards for Excellence Announced

Winners of the 2022 ACG Awards for Excellence Announced

The Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) has announced the winners of the 2022 ACG Awards for Excellence in Anti-Counterfeiting Enforcement at an event hosted by Phil Lewis, Director General at the ACG at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Conference in...

Pokemon stands up for himself – Vladimir Biriulin reports

Pokemon stands up for himself – Vladimir Biriulin reports

April 2022. The events in the Ukraine are widely discussed everywhere. In the meantime, life of intellectual property and its enforcement continues. On April 27, 2022, commercial court in the Russian Far East handed down a judgment against the infringer. It bore a...

A (PLANT-BASED) BEEF

A (PLANT-BASED) BEEF

A beef arose in April 2022 when Vegadelphia, a plant-based food company out of Philadelphia, recently sued Dunkin’ and Beyond Meat claiming infringement of its federally registered trademark WHERE GREAT TASTE IS PLANT-BASED.  The dispute arose when Dunkin’ used GREAT...

Nike v StockX – Emanuela Bianco reports

Nike v StockX – Emanuela Bianco reports

Melanie Saubin, director at The Future Today Institute in New York City, predicts that by 2030 “a large proportion of people will be in the metaverse in some way”. Gartner, a research company, relaunches stating that a quarter of people will spend at least an hour a...

LawCare extends online chat service

LawCare extends online chat service

Legal mental health charity LawCare has extended its online chat service for legal professionals from one to four days a week. The charity, which offers free, confidential, emotional support to anyone working in the law, has been operating a helpline and peer support...

Trademark makes sense for Harry and Meghan podcast

Trademark makes sense for Harry and Meghan podcast

One of the UK’s leading trademark specialists says Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bid to trademark the word ‘archetypes’ after deciding to use it as the title for a new Spotify podcast makes ‘very good commercial sense’. Kate Cheney, the director of trademarks at...

The value of peer support

The value of peer support

We all know the phrases ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ or ‘it’s good to talk’ but the benefits in talking about how you are feeling go far beyond this. When we are in a difficult situation we lose our problem-solving abilities, it can be impossible to focus...

Mental Health Awareness Week – Loneliness

Mental Health Awareness Week – Loneliness

Humans are hard-wired to connect - we are tribal and social animals. We are biologically programmed to need other humans, and a feeling of belonging and connection drives our happiness. Despite this many of us will know what it’s like to be lonely, especially after...

The Magic of the ‘MOMENT’

The Magic of the ‘MOMENT’

In a clash between Magic Moment and Evening Moment, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi has passed an injunction order against Sarao Distillery (OPC) Pvt. Ltd & and Greentech Blenders and Distillers (“Sarao Distillery & Anr.”) forcing them to stop selling its own...

World IP Day, 2022

World IP Day, 2022

This year, World IP Day focuses on “IP and Youth: Innovation for a Better Future”. In a post-COVID-19 era driven by the growth and encompassment of technology, many aspects of innovation are changing. To mark the occasion, we asked our editorial board to reflect on...

Tokyo District Court’s decision on Louboutin’s red soles shoes

Tokyo District Court’s decision on Louboutin’s red soles shoes

The main essence of a trademark is its ability to distinguish the goods and services of one person from the other. A trademark could be made up of a word, a logo, a combination of these two, a slogan, a color…anything that could be able to clearly distinguish the...

IP Professionals’ Brand New Initiative to Benefit Ukraine

IP Professionals’ Brand New Initiative to Benefit Ukraine

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Taras Kulbaba—a Ukrainian-born IP attorney living in Brussels—could not sit idly by. He gathered resources from his friends and colleagues, purchased first-aid and medical supplies, and personally drove the kits over a...

New CITMA President elected

New CITMA President elected

Rachel Wilkinson-Duffy has been elected as The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorney’s (CITMA) President. Rachel, who is a partner at Baker McKenzie, begins her two-year term in the role immediately. She was voted in unanimously by CITMA’s Council and succeeds...

Red Bull’s wings clipped by Indian Court in trademark row

Red Bull’s wings clipped by Indian Court in trademark row

Red Bull suffered defeat in a recent trademark case before the Delhi High Court when they attempted to seek an injunction against PepsiCo India and its energy drink “STING” for alleged infringement and passing off. Red Bull’s application was based on the purported...

Ed Sheeran shapes up to win High Court copyright dispute

Ed Sheeran shapes up to win High Court copyright dispute

Not for the first time in his illustrious career, Ed Sheeran has been forced to swap the creative environment of a recording studio for the rather sterner surrounds of a courtroom. In the most recent edition of copyright claims against the international pop star, his...

UK legal consultants growing at three times the rate of law firms

UK legal consultants growing at three times the rate of law firms

Consultant lawyer numbers growing at a CAGR of 21%, compared to just 7% for mid-market law firms Consultant revenues have grown at a rate of 26% per year compared to 10% for the legal mid-market and 5% across the whole sector Arden Partners say the figures provide an...

Non-traditional trademarks: the new normal?

Non-traditional trademarks: the new normal?

New report from Mewburn Ellis Forward-looking IP firm Mewburn Ellis has released a new report looking at the rise of non-traditional trademarks, including shape, color and position marks.  The report examines the vital role that such trademarks can play in a brand...

ECTA 40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE – EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION LAUNCHED TODAY

ECTA 40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE – EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION LAUNCHED TODAY

Today, ECTA has launched the Early Bird Registration for the ECTA 40th Annual Conference ‘Designing the Future’ to be held in Copenhagen from 15-18 June 2022! The Trademark Lawyer Magazine is Media Partner of the event. REGISTER HERE by 21 April to get the Early Bird...

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