Heitner Legal
On the heels of the recent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision to cancel six federally registered trademarks of the Washington Redskins, a Native American group has stated its intention to file a federal lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians. The advocacy group, People Not Mascots, led by Robert Roche, plans to initiate litigation challenging […]
This past week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) cancelled the federal trademark registration of the Washington Redskins based upon the belief that the team name and logo are disparaging to Native Americans. The Lanham Act contains the federal statutes that govern trademark law throughout the United States. Pursuant to Section 2 found therein, […]
Those familiar with HBO’s hit show, Game of Thrones, undoubtedly are familiar with the term “Milk of the Poppy,” the medical drink used as both a painkiller and an anesthetic to help those throughout the Seven Kingdoms who have suffered from severe injuries. Recently, the term was used in the Season Four finale, “The Children,” […]
This past week, Under Armour and Nike Inc. reached a settlement agreement regarding the trademark infringement lawsuit initiated by Under Armour for Nike’s alleged illegal use of the “I Will” slogan. As a result, Under Armour’s complaint was dismissed Monday, February 10, pursuant to an approved court order by a Baltimore U.S. District Judge—almost one […]
Have a scandalous mark that you wish to get protected for statutory purposes through filing an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)? Make sure to think long and hard before spending the time and money filing that application. The USPTO defines scandalous material as “shocking to the sense of truth, decency or […]
High profile athletes who are between their last game of college and their first game of professional ball would do themselves a strong service to put a competent attorney on retainer. The earlier said athlete hires such a lawyer to start putting his business affairs in order, the more likely that athlete will profit off […]
Have you purchased your .xxx domain yet? I am only half joking. Many companies (big and small) that have absolutely no relation to the pornography industry have been buying up their tradenames at the .xxx level. They have been reserving those domains from registration (see: Walmart.xxx) so that third parties cannot scoop up the domains and […]
You may notice that at the beginning of the video, Christie Rampone is wearing what looks to be a U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team uniform. Christie Rampone is featured in such a uniform much more clearly in a few print advertisements, which the United States Soccer Federation is not happy about. On July 27, 2011, the […]
Roughly a month ago, I discussed the announcement that starting in 2012, there will be many new top-level domains (TLDs) available for the public. Whereas now you can buy domain names with a restricted number of top-level domain tags such as .com, .net, .org, in the near future, you will be able to customize your […]
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) include .com, .net, .org, .edu, and other variations in what is considered to be the back-end of a domain name. In 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) introduced .aero, .biz, .coop, .inof, .museum, .name, and .pro. Then, in 2005, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel, and .travel were added […]