March 2, 2017
The urban legend says, “If you don’t protect your trademark rights, you’ll lose them.” Like most urban legends, there is a kernel of truth lurking at the base, although the proposition is not literally and universally true. If mark owners do not enforce their rights against third-party uses of the same or similar marks or…
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February 10, 2017
Can a band register their name, “The Slants,” as a mark? Is that name disparaging to Asian-Americans and so barred from registration under the Lanham Act, 15 USC 1052(a)? Can the football team that plays in Washington maintain its registrations for its “Redskins” marks? During the oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on January…
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January 18, 2017
More than two thirds of all patents challenged under 35 U.S.C. §101 have been invalidated since Alice Corp v. CLS Bank was decided in 2014.[1] Is this recent trend signaling the beginning of the end of the software patent? Should software even be patentable? Will a clear test help? While both the majority and dissenting…
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December 19, 2016
Representing early stage, high-growth companies often involves supporting a team of entrepreneurs to take a business from an idea, through commercial launch and market penetration, to a successful exit, often through an acquisition by a strategic or financial purchaser. The speed and intensity of the client’s activity can be tremendous. Under the pressure of achieving…
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December 8, 2016
Depending on one’s perspective, a “trademark bully” is either simply a vigorous enforcer of its valid trademark rights who is unduly criticized for such enforcement or an overreaching behemoth trying to unfairly expand its trademark rights well beyond the reasonable boundaries of its protection. For this second category, think “Goliath” challenging the unprotected “Davids” in…
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