Big challenges in clearing new brands
U.S. trademark applications skyrocket
Fraudulent applications abound
The authors of a
Harvard Law Review article posed this provocative question, crunched a monumental amount of data, and decided that the answer is “yes.” Marketers are “increasingly resorting to second-best, less competitively effective marks” because of “severe” levels of trademark congestion and depletion, concluded New York University School of Law professors Barton Beebe and Jeanne Fromer.
Their warning rang true when their article first appeared three years ago, because new U.S. trademark applications had just experienced a massive increase, jumping from 400,000 in 2016 to 450,000 in calendar year 2017. Now, the chimes are ringing more loudly – although the 2020 U.S. economy was beset by pandemic woes, trademark applications last year skyrocketed by a stunning one-third, increasing to 659,000 from the previous all-time high of 495,000 in 2019.
March 10 2021
It has been suggested that modern life may in fact involve more than sorting through recycling, ensuring devices are charged and stockpiling sufficient hand gel to sink a battleship. Crucial though those things are, it is now critical to ensure you have access to a reliable internet connection (and are able to recall the name of your first dog for when it comes (inevitably) to resetting your password).
Without the internet and its wizardry, life as we know it would grind to a shuddering halt. This was plain before the global coronavirus pandemic and, as the pandemic continues to mutate and encircle the globe, is truer now than ever before.
Apple has been Granted 16 Design Patents covering the iPhone Wallet with MagSafe, iPhone Home Screen GUIs, Widgets+
On Friday Apple was granted 16 design patents in Hong Kong covering the iPhone Wallet with MagSafe and a series of iPhone Home Screen Graphical User Interfaces for widgets, edit pages and more. Our report also covers a few new Registered Trademarks granted to Apple by the U.S. Trademark Office late last month.
Unlike patent applications that provide the public with an abstract, summary and details of an invention, design patents published around the world are limited to only providing the public with design patent figures. No additional specifics of the design are made available.
Companies often leave decisions on the new company name or the name of a new product for “another day,” believing that finding the right word is just a matter of internal consensus.
Friday, February 12, 2021
Utility patents protect ideas and inventions; design patents protect aesthetic features of a product; and trademarks protect the exclusive consumer association with your company that your brands, logos, or designs evoke. Despite the differences in these types of intellectual property (“IP”), these are some common issues that arise in patent and trademark lawsuits.
Overlap of Design Patent With Trade Dress
Design patents and trade dress are legal protections for visually identifiable features of a commercial product, the purpose of which is not exclusively or primarily functional. Famous examples include the distinctive shape of Coca-Cola bottles and the red soles of Christian Louboutin shoes. The owner of the UGG brand has both design patents and trademarks covering its shoe designs, demonstrating that these two forms of intellectual property can cover the same aesthetic features. If a visually identifiable feature of a product turns ou