Blog

31 Aug 2022
How Close Is Too Close?

A trademark filed by Trader Bo’s for “Retail store services in the field of antiques and older items, the services provided within an antique mall” has been opposed by Trader Joe’s, which uses its ...

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9 Aug 2022
A Bridgerton Too Far?

The lawsuit filed this past week by Netflix charging the “Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” creators and their company Barlow & Bear with trademark and copyright infringement is a stunning reversa...

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10 Jan 2022
"What's Up Doc?" Naming and the WarnerMedia/Discovery Merger

Over the holidays I was asked about naming and the Discovery Inc./WarnerMedia merger, to be implemented later this year. The problem is that there are so many names in the mix. This is not unusual ...

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2 Nov 2020
Monster Energy Tangles with Cleveland Monsters Hockey Team: Who Won?

Just in time for Halloween, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB) issued their opinion regarding a dozen trademark (TM) infringement objections filed by Monster Energy, the energy drink com...

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6 Oct 2020
Casper The Friendly Ghost vs. Casper The Mattress

You can probably visualize Casper the Friendly Ghost, a cartoon character created in the 1930s who has appeared in comics, 55 cartoons from 1945-59, five TV series from 1959-2012, the feature film ...

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29 Jul 2020
Note to Namers: Geographic Indications are Not a Smart Source of Name Ideas

In an interesting case appealed to the UK High Court regarding a denial for trademark protection by the UK Intellectual Property Office, the brand Nosecco was found to be both deceptive, and proh...

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18 Jul 2020
4 Top Naming Questions for Elpha (Women in Tech)

For Elpha we answered the "Top Four Naming Questions" I receive. Note, this is not legal advice but rather insight from many years of creating, vetting, and helping clients select names. 1) What i...

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18 Jul 2020
Surprising Decision by U.S. Supreme Court

This past Tuesday, something quite unusual happened: a trademark case was decided at the U.S. Supreme Court. This is rare, only one or two trademark-related cases/year are argued — and in some year...

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