Trade Dress Protection of a Website

Historically, trade dress protection has been afforded to the packaging and labeling of goods, but recently, courts are extending trade dress protection to the “look and feel” websites. Continue reading for a summary of trade dress protection of a website. Material Under Copyright Protection Precludes Consideration as “Look and Feel” of Site The “look and… READ MORE

Trade Dress Protection

Product colors, labels and packaging often catch the eye of consumers. Businesses work very hard to ensure that consumers recognize their products, because not only will they purchase a product that is aesthetically pleasing, but also brand mark that they trust.  So how can business owners protect their mark and the physical appearance of their… READ MORE

Three Ways To Protect Your Registered Trademark

Now that you are an owner of a registered trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, there are few things you should know about how to best protect your new property. In this article, we’ll discuss three of the ways in which you can protect your trademark. Trademark Monitoring Trademark owners have a… READ MORE

It is a contract between two parties that governs the parties’ use of certain trademarks. These agreements are often referred to by a number of names, and are sometimes called co-existence or consent agreements. The primary purpose for entering a concurrent use agreement is to permit a mark to achieve registration. For example, lets assume… READ MORE

Inter parte proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board largely consist of trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings. These proceedings are similar to federal civil lawsuits, but the procedure is different. For an explanation of the process, continue reading. What Happens After a Notice of Opposition or Petition to Cancel is Filed? After the Notice… READ MORE

Trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings are administrative proceedings that are similar to a lawsuit in federal court. The first question in any opposition or cancellation proceeding is whether the opposer or petitioner has standing. We reviewed the standards for standing here. Now we will address the substantive merits of trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings. Grounds… READ MORE

A trademark opposition proceeding is an administrative proceeding, similar to a civil federal lawsuit, before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in which one party seeks to prevent another from registering a trademark. To understand trademark opposition proceedings, you must first understand the trademark process as whole. You can read our summary of the… READ MORE

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that is responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of trademark issues. Specifically, the TTAB hears appeals from the USPTO examining attorney decisions that trademarks should not be registered. Further, the TTAB hears inter partes… READ MORE

Trademark Law 101   A trademark can be a word, phrase, logo, or combination of the three. This “mark” serves a specific purpose: it identifies the source of goods or services. The purpose of trademark law is to avoid consumer confusion.   When you use an inherently distinctive mark “in commerce,” you automatically obtain trademark… READ MORE

Mark strength is a measure of the distinctiveness of a trademark and can be represented on a linear scale, or as we call it, the Trademark Strength Spectrum. At one end of the scale are the strongest and most distinctive trademarks, such as arbitrary and fanciful marks. At the other are suggestive marks and descriptive… READ MORE