The week’s post comes courtesy of my twin brother Joe, who is also a licensed attorney living in Columbus, Ohio. Like a good older brother (by 6 minutes), he’s always looking out for fascinating trademark topics on which I can bloviate to my heart’s content. Well, my bro has come through for me over the [...]
Apple IPAD Trademark Update – The Story Keeps Getting Better!
A couple of months ago, I wrote about a potential trademark dispute stemming from Apple’s intended use of the name IPAD in connection with its soon-to-be-released tablet computer device. As a refresher, Fujitsu has owned a pending application for IPAD since 2003 for a “hand-held computing device for wireless networking in a retail environment.” According [...]
Subway Says: “Our 12 Inch Subs are FOOTLONGS, Your 12 Inch Subs are Any Other Unit of Measurement Equalling a Foot.”
This week’s post is a good example of the Trademark Office arguably failing to competently perform its duties and the importance of the opposition period to those who may be affected by the Trademark Office’s questionable decisions. On November 8, 2007, the well-known restaurant chain Subway filed an application to register the trademark FOOTLONG for [...]
December 7, 2009 – A Special (K) Day for Kellogg’s
As many of you already know from previous postings, I browse through the records of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board nearly every weekend to see what’s happening in the exciting world of trademark oppositions (what, you don’t spend your Sunday mornings doing the same thing?). Well, my research today revealed that the well-known Kellogg [...]
If You Enjoy a Good Fight, These Trademarks Are For You!
As many of you know from my “Ridiculous Trademark Opposition of the Week” postings, I am in the habit of browsing through the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) records on a weekly basis in order to track what companies are filing challenges to trademark applications and registrations owned by others and on what basis [...]
Is “HOTELS.COM” Really Generic?
In In Re Hotels.com, L.P., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision that HOTELS.COM is generic for online hotel booking services and, therefore, not entitled to any trademark protection whatsoever. As many of you probably know, generic terms are not trademarks and are not entitled to [...]
