Applicant was refused registration for two marks: (1) JAWS in standard characters and (2) JAWS DEVOUR YOUR HUNGER in standard characters. The services identified in the trademark applications were entertainment services, namely the streaming of audiovisual material via an Internet channel providing programming related to cooking. The Examining Attorney refused…
Two weeks ago the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) issued a precedential decision involving issues of parent and subsidiary trademark use and abandonment. See Noble Home Furnishings, LLC v. Floorco Enterprises, LLC, Cancellation No. 92057394 (April 4, 2016) [precedential]. Noble Home Furnishings, LLC (the “Petitioner”) filed a petition…
A Consent Agreement is a written agreement between two trademark owners where typically one party agrees that the other party can use and register its mark. It is usually triggered by a refusal issued in an Office Action by the USPTO. See our web page entitled, Resolving Trademark Disputes Without…
Yes there are differences between a refusal issued on deceptive grounds and one issued because the mark is deceptively misdescriptive. Under the Trademark Act, Section 2(a) a mark cannot register on either the Principal or the Supplemental Register if it is held to be deceptive. An example would be a…
One of the many grounds an Examining Attorney can cite for a refusal of a trademark application is likelihood of confusion between a proposed trademark and a mark contained either in a pending application or a prior registration. A Section 2(d) Refusal is a trademark refusal based on likelihood of…
A frequently asked question in our practice is, can an acronym register at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and be protected as a federal trademark? The answer is it depends on the circumstances, but under the right circumstances acronyms as well as abbreviations can function as trademarks.…
A recent decision from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) highlighted several mistakes made by the Applicant when appealing a descriptiveness refusal. See In re Olawale Mafolasire, Serial Nos. 85895010, 85895067, 85895083 and 85895103 (January 12, 2016), where the Board affirmed the Examining Attorney’s refusal to register several…
Word Marks One of the most frequently asked questions in our practice is how do you evaluate trademarks to determine if a likelihood of confusion would result in the marketplace. The applicable rules will vary based on the type or types of marks in question. For example, if both marks…
A year ago, I posted a blog that featured a case that had appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) and the Court reversed a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or the “Board”). The case of In re St. Helena…
A frequently asked question in our trademark practice is what filing basis should the trademark applicant rely on when filing its trademark application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office. There are five filing bases to choose from to fulfill the statutory requirements when filing a trademark application. For…