Category: Trademark

Under U.S. Trademark law, there is no legal limit to the number of words or characters that can be considered a “phrase” for trademark purposes. So, in theory, you could try to register a trademark for a 100-character phrase. And, occasionally, over the years, applicants have tried to register trademarks with very long phrases. In […]

Yes, it can be difficult, but it is possible to trademark a color. There are a number of famous examples including Tiffany blue and the UPS company’s brown. Indeed, there are at least two well-known shades of pink that have been registered as trademarks in the U.S., including a certain color pink — Pantone 210 […]

No. You can use a trademark before registering it. Indeed, at least historically, trademarks were used long before they were officially registered as trademarks. That remains true today, in a manner of speaking, since using a trademark in interstate commerce is one legal requirement for registration (at the federal level). That is to say, before […]

Generally, and in simplified form, there are four steps in obtaining a registration from the U.S. Trademark Office for a trademark. These are: If everything “goes well,” the process will take maybe ninw months to a year. Between the first and second step is from two to three months, depending on how busy the Trademark […]

A trademark is valuable property. As such, trademarks can be used in the same manner as other property. As examples, trademarks can be sold, can have more than one owner, be transferred, given as collateral for financing, be the subject of estate planning, and more. When a trademark is sold or transferred, the legal term […]

Yes and no. An applicant for trademark registration must eventually sell some products/services in interstate commerce to obtain a fully registered trademark. However, the application process can begin before the first sale. There are two types of applications for trademark registration. One type is called an “intent-to-use” application. As the name implies, this type of […]

Owners of trademarks can allow others to use those trademarks. This is done through the preparation and execution of a trademark license. This is a type of agreement or contract between the owner of the trademark (the “licensor”) and the person or company who will be allowed full or partial use of the relevant trademark […]

There are some significant changes coming to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that will affect trademark filings beginning January 18, 2025. These changes include the introduction of the Trademark Center, new fees, and revised application requirements. Here is an overview of the key changes: The USPTO will retire the TEAS system, which […]

Name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) rights have been a “hot” topic lately. However, the focus seems to be on sports celebrities, particularly college and high school sports athletes. However, NIL and publicity rights have always applied to a much broader range of celebrities and personalities. For example, as reported here, musician and rapper Clifford “T.I.” […]

Trademark Class 041 is likely the trademark class to use for trademarking a gamer-tag. Class 009 is often ALSO selected as the Class with which a gamer-tag trademark is associated. Gamer-tags are, of course, similar to usernames required for creating accounts with video gaming and esports platforms. Most gamers use the same gamer-tag across platforms […]