On January 22, 2019, the US Supreme Court decided Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. , which held that a “secret sale” can still qualify as prior art under the America Invents Act (AIA) even if the third party the invention is sold to is obligated to keep the invention confidential. In other […]
Intellectual Property
Self-Driving Technology Case Illustrates Importance of Trade Secrets
A federal jury trial is underway in San Francisco, which is the culmination of a trade secret battle between Uber and Waymo (a Google owned company) related to self-driving technology. A jury will hear the case in federal district court about whether Uber misappropriated eight trade secrets from a former Google engineer. The case illustrates […]
Domain Name Disputes – Protect Your Online Turf
In a recent case, an individual in Guangzhou, China registered the domain names <walgereens.com> and <walgreene.com> with an internet registrar. The websites at the disputed domain names displayed the message “Redirecting” before taking users to various, unrelated websites, including the legitimate website at “www.walgreens.com”. Each time a user typed in the URL a different website […]
I Federally Registered My Trademark, Now What?
You federally registered your trademark, but to keep the registration and all the benefits that come with a federal registration, you need to maintain and review and monitor and police.
Washington Redskins Lose Federal Registrations: How Can They Protect Their Trademark Rights?
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) announced today its decision to cancel six federal trademark registrations owned by Pro Football, Inc. (The Washington Redskins), ruling that the term “Redskins” was disparaging of Native Americans, when used in relation to professional football services, at the time the various registrations were issued
Should I Register My Trademark?
Business owners often ask me if they should “trademark” the name of their business. The good news for many of them is that they already have a trademark. There is no such thing as “trademarking” your company’s name. When you choose a name under which you will provide a particular good or service, you are adopting a trademark. In the U.S., you obtain rights in that trademark by using the mark in commerce in connection with the sale of goods or services. You do not have to register your trademark to have rights in it.
What the New Generic Top-Level Domains Mean for Your Brand
At the beginning of this year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the entity that manages the Internet’s global domain name system, began releasing new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) such as .restaurant, .news, .computer, and .coffee. As many as 700 new publicly available gTLDs will roll out through 2015.
Merely Advertising Your Services Is Not Enough to File A Use-Based Application
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Board) granted Playdom Inc.’s petition for cancellation of registration for the mark PLAYDOM for certain entertainment services on the basis that the registration was void because Registrant David Couture had not used the mark in the rendering of the entertainment services prior to filing his Section 1(a) use-based application.