No Go for Mash-up of Dr. Seuss Works and Star Trek, Ninth Circuit Says

(December 18, 2020) An attempt to boldly go where no mash-up of Dr. Seuss and Star Trek had gone before was squashed by the Ninth Circuit. ComicMix LLC created a mash-up using the Star Trek characters and Dr. Seuss’s works Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (“Go!”), How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and The Sneetches and […]
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Generic Word Plus .Com May Be Trademarked Thanks to Booking.com

(July 1, 2020) A generic name combined with “.com” may be trademarked, the United States Supreme Court says, rejecting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) broad rule that combining a generic term with “.com” cannot be registered as a trademark. “Booking.com” sought to trademark the name of its website name, which is an online […]
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Broke A** Phone Sign Not Obscene Nor Immoral

(December 10, 2019) Broke Ass Phone (“BAP”) will be able to put its registered federal trademark on its sign in Broadman, Ohio, following an appellate court reversal of a denial of its application for the sign because it contained an obscene word or word of immoral character. A zoning inspector for Broadman Township in Ohio […]
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Gatorade’s Use of Sport Fuel Is Fair Use, Appellate Court Affirms

(August 12, 2019) If a competitor uses your trademark to describe its own product, then you might not have an action for infringement of the mark. Trademarks are protected because they are an indicator of the source of the product. If a registered mark is used descriptively and not as a trademark by a competitor, […]
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Rejection of FUCT Registration Violates First Amendment, Supreme Court Says

(June 24, 2019)  The Supreme Court struck down the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) ban against registering marks that are “immoral” or “scandalous” because the restriction violates the First Amendment. The court found the USPTO erred in denying a trademark for FUCT for clothing. Under the Lanham Act, the USPTO may not register marks […]
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Court Finds Gatorade’s Use of “Sports Fuel Company” Fair Use

(June 18, 2018) Gatorade Company’s slogan “Gatorade the Sport Fuel Company” does not infringe on Sportfuel, Inc.’s trademark “Sportfuel” because Gatorade’s use merely describes the types of products sold and does not signify the source of the products, a federal judge ruled. Sportfuel, Inc., a Chicago-based sports nutrition and wellness consulting firm founded in 1993, […]
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Supreme Court Strikes Down PTO Prohibition Against Derogatory Trademarks

(June 20, 2017) The United States Supreme Court has found that the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) prohibition against registering trademarks that may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute any persons is unconstitutional. The PTO denied registration for “The Slants” by a rock group comprised of Asians. The trademark was rejected by the PTO […]
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Google This: Is Google’s Trademark Generic?

(May 18, 2017) Even though the public may use “google” in a generic sense with regards to internet search engines, that fact alone does not suffice to cancel Google’s trademarks. The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Google against a party who argued that Google was viewed by the public as generic, thus no longer […]
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Baloughs Explain Ways to Avoid an IP Food Fight

(November 15, 2016) The question of how aspiring chefs can use trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets to protect their valuable recipes and presentations was the focus of a presentation by Balough Law Offices, LLC to the Chicago Bar Assn.’s Creative Arts and Food Law Committees. Cheryl Dancey Balough explained that while recipes themselves are not […]
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