The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) erred by not applying the Supreme Court’s two-part Lexmark test in analyzing standing under 15 U.S.C. § 1064 but nevertheless reached the correct result because the Empresa Cubana standard used by the Board was substantially similar to Lexmark. The TTAB correctly determined that a company that owns federal registrations for SPROUTS trademarks in…
On 2 March 2021 the Polish Supreme Court finally decided that the famous Polish boxer Dariusz Michalczewski had won his case against FoodCare sp. z o.o. for the “Tiger” trademark for popular energy products (III CSKP 5/21). The internationally renowned Polish boxer Dariusz Michalczewski used the nickname “TIGER” during his sporting career. His nickname was…
Retailer allegedly created knockoff goods and acted as more than a hands-off intermediary. Australia-based online retailer Redbubble, Inc., could be directly liable for third-party sellers’ infringement of trademarks owned by the Ohio State University, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has held. Unlike online retailers or auction houses that typically had been found not…
The Supreme Court has ruled that the family having the last name of Ørsted must tolerate and co-exist with the commercial use of ØRSTED. The judgement states that the energy company has the right to register and use several trademarks, domains and company names including or consisting of ØRSTED. The Supreme Court confirms that the…
After a long battle Saule LLC, a manufacturer of motocross and extreme cycling equipment, has managed to register the designation as a trademark in Russia. Saule LLC uses the slogan “RIDE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT” and a graphic designation “100%” as a trademark in the USA and many other countries. Moreover, Saule LLC is the rights…
Famous young pop singer, Aya Nakamura has sold millions of albums and made a name for herself in France and Europe-wide. Recently, her accomplishments extended to the IP field as well when Kyo Jino, a fashion designer accused Aya on social media of “stealing her creativity” to which Aya responded: “If what you say is…
The crucial date 31 December 2020 has passed and we are now a month into 2021. Even though, in the last two months, the relationship between the UK and the EU had highly dramatic moments, from an IP point of view, things went smoothly and with an incredible velocity, that we would not have predicted,…
NIKE no longer had a legally cognizable interest in the validity of the preliminary injunction. NIKE, Inc., was precluded from appealing a district court’s preliminary injunction issued in November 2019 barring the athletic footwear giant from using the phrase “Sport Changes Everything” in an advertising campaign, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond has ruled….
Genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether the plaintiff’s electronic system for managing brokerage accounts contained protectable trade secrets. Trade secrets misappropriation claims brought by InteliClear, LLC, under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (CUTSA) against ETC Global Holdings have been reinstated by the U.S. Court…
The applied-for mark NORTH 61 was properly refused because it produced a similar commercial impression to the mark 66° NORTH when both were used for apparel and retail services. The proposed mark NORTH 61 was confusingly similar to the registered mark 66° NORTH, the Federal Circuit has held, affirming a decision of the Trademark Trial…
