LexBlog IP

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

On September 29, 2023, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or the “Board”) issued its 28 th precedential decision of the year, this time focusing on appropriate discovery submissions and procedure. RLP Ventures, LLC v. Panini America, Inc. , 91268816 (TTAB 2023).

Confidentiality 52

Confidentiality Registration Trademark Intellectual Property 52

Fish & Richardson Trademark & Copyright Thoughts

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

The TTAB publishes its opinions, which gives your attorneys a deep source of information to rely on. The Board can deem any opinion as “precedential,” meaning that it is binding on the Board if the same issue it determined in the opinion arises in a later case. Robust Precedent.

Litigation 59

Litigation Trademark Registering Trademarks Registration 59

The TTABlog

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

The Board affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark LETTERS & NUMBERS (in standard character form) on the Supplemental Register, finding it to be generic for printed and electronic publications "in the field of educational and entertainment materials targeted to children on the topic of alphanumeric characters and symbols."

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LexBlog IP

AUGUST 15, 2023

POP’s Retirement : The Office is retiring the rarely used Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) process responsible for issuing decisions that bind future Board panels. In doing so, the Director removed the “precedential” designation from an earlier POP panel in Proppant Express Investments, LLC v. Oren Techs.,

Patent Application 52

Patent Application Patent Designs Design 52

The TTABlog

DECEMBER 16, 2022

88477572 (December 13, 2022) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Cynthia C. Applicant argued the design portion of the cited mark is dominant, but the Board disagreed. In re Smith & Vandiver, Corp.

Designs 52

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The TTABlog

JANUARY 24, 2022

In a 51-page opinion, the Board affirmed a refusal to register the product configuration shown below, for "handbags," finding the design to be generic and, alternatively, lacking in acquired distinctiveness: "Handbags embodying the proposed mark are so common in the industry that such product design is not capable of indicating source and.

Designs 52

Designs Design Registration Music 52

Trading Secrets

MARCH 24, 2022

Interestingly, though not a precedential opinion and a decision where the Fifth Circuit anticipated how the Louisiana Supreme Court would rule, the Court signaled that, where no actual employment relationship existed, a non-compete would not be enforceable.

Business 59

Business Law 59

The TTABlog

DECEMBER 28, 2022

The USPTO refused to register the proposed mark CALIHEMP for “skin and body topical lotions, creams, oils, balms and salves for cosmetic use, all of the foregoing containing hemp oil extract containing hemp ingredients solely derived from hemp with a delta-9 tetrahyrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3

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LexBlog IP

APRIL 11, 2023

In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) reversed six refusals to register The New York Times Company’s (the “Times”) names of its newspaper columns, THE NEW OLD AGE, A GOOD APPETITE, HUNGRY CITY, WORK FRIEND, OFF THE SHELF, and LIKE A BOSS (the “Marks”).

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LexBlog IP

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

precedential) ( here ), the Appellant attempted to leverage Aylus Networks, Inc. We now make precedential the straightforward conclusion we drew in an earlier nonprecedential opinion: The Board is not required to accept a patent owner’s arguments as disclaimer when deciding the merits of those arguments. In Cupp Computing AS v.

Patent 52

Patent Designs Design Intellectual Property 52

The TTABlog

MAY 10, 2023

90976324 (May 5, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis). Applicant argued that the Office's evidence - some 14 third-party uses of the phrase and its variants - was insufficient to show how the mark is perceived by the general public. How do you think this came out?

Artwork 78

Artwork Service Mark Registration Trademark 78

Fish & Richardson Trademark & Copyright Thoughts

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

A Slow Year for PTAB Precedential Decisions. A Slow Year for PTAB Precedential Decisions. After a relatively busy 2020 in which the PTAB designated over a dozen opinions as either precedential (11) or informative (4), the PTAB did not designate a single opinion as precedential or informative during the 2021 calendar year.

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Fish & Richardson Trademark & Copyright Thoughts

JANUARY 11, 2022

The letter discusses the BPCIA and the Hatch-Waxman Act frameworks (for small molecule drugs) and sets forth several topics for USPTO’s consideration and further discussion: engagement between FDA and USPTO to increase efficiencies, possible misuse of the patent system (e.g., We briefly identify some of these decisions below. 3d 1080 (Fed.

Litigation 52

Litigation Settlement Patent Marketing 52

The TTABlog

AUGUST 17, 2023

88388841 (August 15, 2023) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christopher Larkin). Applicant Douglas Wood contended that the book and its Spanish translation are different works, but he failed to show that the two books have significantly different contents. In re Douglas Wood , Serial No.

Editing 52

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LexBlog IP

AUGUST 5, 2021

Back in 2015, I pointed out that an opinion of the Federal Circuit called into question the PTAB’s practice of requiring settlement documents to terminate an AIA trial preliminary proceeding. The PTAB dissent also correctly points out that the Board is all over the map on this topic.

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