Tag: Brand Management

Introducing TCAMToday – a Faegre Drinker℠ blog on T®ademark, ©opyright, Advertising & Media

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Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (Faegre Drinker) launched global operations on February 1, 2020. Faegre Drinker is the combination of Faegre Baker Daniels, an international law firm with deep roots in the Midwest, and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, a full-service national law firm with storied East Coast origins.

With more than 1,300 attorneys, consultants and professionals in 22 locations across the U.S., U.K. and China, Faegre Drinker is one of the nation’s 50 largest law firms based on size and projected gross revenue.

We are very excited to introduce TCAMToday, Faegre Drinker’s successor to the DB®anding Blog.  Our newly expanded team of over 30 T-CAM professionals will continue to provide fresh commentary on Trademark, Copyright, Advertising and Media topics ranging from anticounterfeiting to sweepstakes and promotions.  Watch this space!

Don’t Miss Notices from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office regarding Madrid Protocol Trademark Applications

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Wondering why you haven’t received any updates on the progress of your client’s Madrid Protocol application designating Canada?  After reading that question, are you wondering what on earth a Madrid Protocol application is?

Let’s take a step back.  The Madrid system is a mechanism that facilitates the registration of trademarks in multiple jurisdictions around the world.  One way to file trademark applications in multiple jurisdictions is to engage local counsel in each jurisdiction of interest and work with counsel to file individual applications.  By using the Madrid system, however, a trademark owner can file a single international trademark application with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and designate one or more jurisdictions based on just this one application.

Continue reading “Don’t Miss Notices from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office regarding Madrid Protocol Trademark Applications”

Be on the Lookout for Potentially Misleading Trademark Solicitations

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If you own a U.S. trademark registration, chances are you’ve received official-looking solicitations offering to handle trademark services on your behalf in return for a fee. Read these notices carefully – more often than not, they don’t come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Instead, they’re sent by private companies that have obtained your contact information from the publicly accessible USPTO trademark database. Worse than that, these notices may ask trademark owners to pay thousands of dollars in fees in exchange for services that aren’t even timely or necessary.

Continue reading “Be on the Lookout for Potentially Misleading Trademark Solicitations”

New US Counsel Rule For Foreign TMs Promises Sea Change

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This month’s dramatic announcement by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that all foreign domiciled trademark applicants, registrants and parties to USPTO trademark proceedings will now be required to retain U.S. counsel is expected to result in the most significant practical change to domestic trademark prosecution practice in years.

For casual observers, this new rule — set to be effective on Aug. 3, 2019 — may have arrived as an unexpected, or even shocking, development. After all, with this announcement, literally tens of thousands of active, foreign-domiciled participants in the trademark processes of the USPTO will suddenly now require representation by a U.S. attorney, altering years of common practice.

Moreover, the time from announcement to implementation — only 32 days — is remarkably short for agency action of any kind, let alone a new rule set to transform the role of trademark practitioners in relation to a massive class of new clients.

Read the full article on Law360.

Mindful Management of Marks and Money (Or, Spring Cleaning: Do You Really Need to Renew That Trademark Registration?)

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This post is for those who gain pleasure from tidying up.  It’s springtime here in DC, so let’s roll up our sleeves and declutter!  Your trademark portfolio, that is.  You’ll gain a sense of accomplishment AND you can humble-brag about your magical money-saving skills.

Continue reading “Mindful Management of Marks and Money (Or, Spring Cleaning: Do You Really Need to Renew That Trademark Registration?)”

Tips & Tricks to Trademark Licensing

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As the proud owner of a trademark, you will encounter a number of situations that may prompt you or your company to consider granting a trademark license. Navigating the process of selecting a mark, conducting a trademark search and securing a trademark registration is no small feat. Now that you have accomplished these goals, it is important to make sure you are getting the most out of your investment of time, energy and money. A trademark license may be the most effective way to ensure that your trademark rights primarily benefit you and not a third party.

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To Claim or Not to Claim … Seniority (Guest Post from EU Firm Cleveland Scott York)

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Businesses operating in the European Union may be familiar with the concept of “seniority.”  By claiming seniority, an owner of an EU trademark registration may be able to claim prior rights based on existing national trademark registrations in EU member countries.  To illustrate when a business might claim seniority, take the following example:

Continue reading “To Claim or Not to Claim … Seniority (Guest Post from EU Firm Cleveland Scott York)”

Three Reasons NOT to do a Full Trademark Search

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What? A trademark lawyer suggesting that you needn’t always conduct a full-scale trademark search before you file a new trademark application?  Isn’t that tantamount to driving without a seat belt?  Hear us out.

Continue reading “Three Reasons NOT to do a Full Trademark Search”

Five Reasons NOT to Register Your Trademark

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Our followers know that we get a little giddy at the prospect of registering trademarks.  It’s almost as much fun as deep-fried Twinkies!  (Um, make that “Twinkies® brand sponge cakes.”)  So why are we posting about reasons NOT to register your mark?  Well, although we love global brands, you may sometimes be better off skipping or delaying those new applications.  Consider, for example, the following:

  1. How long will you continue to use the brand?  If you will only use the mark for a short time, or in a limited geographical area, maybe it’s not worth spending the money on registration.  You might even stop using the brand before the application matures to registration!
  2. Is your industry brand-focused?  In some industries, brands can be (gasp!) a little less important. If your competitors don’t tend to copy your brand names, consider applying to register only your most important brand names.
  3. Might the Trademark Office consider the mark descriptive? If you’re at risk of a refusal to register the mark on descriptiveness grounds, you might refrain from applying, or wait until after you have used the mark for five years.
  4. Is there a crowded field of similar marks? If you’re not keen on trying to persuade the Trademark Office to withdraw a refusal to register your mark on the ground of confusion with five prior third-party registrations (ugh), maybe your resources would be better spent on something other than a new application…like finding a new brand?
  5. Is there a compelling reason to register the mark now? In some cases, if you’ve been using an unregistered brand for a while, maybe there’s no need to disrupt the status quo, particularly if the brand isn’t especially valuable or distinctive, you’re facing serious registrability hurdles, and there’s no infringement you need to stamp out.  Why call attention to yourself and invite oppositions when no confusion has arisen in the real-world marketplace?

Of course, the above considerations may not apply in every case.  If a brand’s importance is increasing, you’re entering new territories, or you have infringement concerns, it’s often a good idea to conduct searches and file applications.  Just wanted to share some (fat-free) food for thought before you rush into filing globally!

The “Principal” of the Matter: Deciding Between Principal and Supplemental Register Registration

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I’ll start this post by acknowledging the misleading title – rarely, if ever, does a federal trademark applicant independently decide to register its mark on the Supplemental Register in the United States.  Whereas registration on the Principal Register is the “gold standard” for federal trademark applicants, the Supplemental Register offers a “second best” kind of registration, which provides some, but not a full complement, of benefits.  Continue reading “The “Principal” of the Matter: Deciding Between Principal and Supplemental Register Registration”