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Trademarks

The Vitamin Shoppe Is Too Generic To Be Registered, Says Trademark Trial And Appeal Board

Is “The Vitamin Shoppe” too generic of a name for the parent company to obtain trademark registration? After a year-long battle within the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) system, the answer is a resounding yes. Without a disclaimer for the entire mark, the TTAB was unwilling to reverse the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s […]

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Gaming Law

Riot Games Is Not Cool With Anyone Else Using RIOT In The Esports Industry

Is the word “RIOT” now so attached to the company Riot Games that no other company can use the word in its name? Riot Games seems to think so based on its recent initiation of a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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Sports Law Trademarks

Why LeBron’s Taco Tuesday And Ohio State’s THE Failed The Trademark Test

Ohio State was denied the trademark registration to “THE” and LeBron James lost in an attempt to register “TACO TUESDAY.” Neither outcome should be shocking, whether you are a trademark attorney or not.

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Sports Law Trademarks

How Taco Tuesday And Tom Terrific Have Made Trademarking Mainstream

Six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady filed a trademark application to register the mark “Tom Terrific.” Three-time NBA champion LeBron James recently initiated an effort to register the trademark “Taco Tuesday.”

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Trademarks

Sports Nutrition Company Runs Out Of Fuel In Trademark Fight Against Gatorade

Gatorade used the slogan “Gatorade The Sports Fuel Company” and SportFuel, Inc. sued, claiming trademark infringement. The district court threw out the case after it decided that Gatorade’s slogan was construed as fair use. SportFuel appealed.

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Trademarks

Mondelez Initiates Trademark Infringement Case, Wants To Protect Children From Getting Stoned

Mondelez is suing a company called Stoney Patch for trademark infringement. It claims that THC gummy products created and sold by Stoney Patch were intentionally designed to copy the Sour Patch brand under a confusingly similar name and packaging. It additionally says that it is especially concerned about confusing children, since the packaging is likely […]

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Trademarks

Manscaping Companies Find Themselves In A Hairy Trademark Situation

The State of Illinois is home to a big new battle over the rights to use marks related to male grooming. You have definitely heard the words “manscaping” and “manscaped” used before, and now they are basically the subject of a federal court trademark dispute.

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Trademarks

Venmo Is Not Cool With The Idea Of Being Able To Lenmo Money

In 2019, if you want a quick, easy way to send or receive money without paying a fee, you are likely using the app Venmo. It has become so popular that people will often ask to be Venmo’d money. As can be the case, a noun becomes a verb based on heightened usage.

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Trademarks

You Now Need A United States Based Lawyer For USPTO Trademark Filings

As of August 3, 2019, trademark applicants and registrants based outside of the United States will need a U.S.-based lawyer if they want to extend their protections to the U.S. A new rule announced by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) states that the U.S.-based lawyer must be in good standing of a bar […]

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Trademarks

Welcome To The Trademark Jungle, Guns N’ Roses

The rock band Guns N’ Roses has been around since 1984 and is a known name in the music industry to just about everyone in the United States. While the band members have spent most of their lives creating and performing music, they are now going to be occupied with litigating a trademark infringement lawsuit […]