Author Archives: Eric Misterovich

For decades, the USPTO has denied registration to trademarks that are disparaging and offensive to specific racial or ethnic groups under the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act. The United States Supreme Court recently weighed in on the long-running debate that has surrounded the federal registerability of disparaging trademarks based on ethnic slurs. While there […]

Any business entity or inventor that is considering securing patent rights for a novel and non-obvious invention needs to know a little bit about the different types of patents that are available from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Patent Office). The USPTO grants patent rights based on the type of patent […]

Applying for federal trademark registration is typically a wise investment for individuals and businesses. The benefits that come with registration, including nationwide exclusivity to use your mark in connection with your goods or services, can be extremely valuable. But, the trademark registration process can be confusing. This post explains the trademark registration process for applications submitted […]

In certain advertising disputes, it may be possible and considerably more affordable to argue the advertising dispute before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, rather than taking the matter to court or to some other government entity. The NAD is a branch of the self-regulating Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (ASRC) […]

If you’re the owner of an e-commerce shop, you deal with intellectual property everyday. Intellectual property refers to the creations of the human mind. This includes symbols, images, names, inventions, and literary and artistic works. Intellectual property rights refer to the exclusive rights given to the creator for a specific period of time. This right […]

One technique that companies often use to advertise their product or service is by drawing comparisons against their competitor’s product or service. This advertising technique is known as comparative advertising. Comparative advertising specifically identifies the competitor by name and highlights discrepancies in the quality of the competitor’s product or service compared to its own product […]

Little else is as stressful for a company than handling the aftermath of a data breach. Not only does the company have the obligation of making notifications to clients about the data breach, but it may also be confronted by data breach lawyers with at least one lawsuit, or even a class action. There are […]

Disputes in advertising can be voluntarily resolved through a dispute resolution mechanism championed by the National Advertising Division (NAD). NAD is a division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus that handles voluntary dispute resolution for claims about false and misleading advertising. NAD proceedings are often used by either consumers who otherwise would band together […]

On April 21, 2017, Western District of Michigan Judge Gordon J. Quist ruled the State of Michigan lacks standing in a declaratory judgment action to declare the use and registration of federally registered marks are unlawful. TTAB Proceedings On December 3, 2013, the State of Michigan filed a cancellation proceeding in the TTAB seeking to […]

What is cybersquatting? Cybersquatting, as defined by the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1125(d)): is the registration, trafficking in, or use of a domain name that is either identical or confusingly similar to a distinctive trademark or is confusingly similar to or dilutive of a famous trademark. In simpler terms, cybersquatting occurs where one […]