Date: November 2020

In the more than 25-years in practice I have been asked to register many sorts of trademarks. I have then had the opportunity to see how the trademarks function in the marketplace. By far and away the most successful trademarks were distinctive and less descriptive. To me, a distinctive mark is a mark where there […]

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois correctly denied Marriott’s Motion for Summary Judgment in the above case. In this case, Ledesma travelled to India. He signed up for a hotel room at the Westin in Chennai, India. While on the premises Ledesma was hurt when the elevator dropped with him […]

I am in a presentation with the head of the UK patent office. Great news is that existing EU rights are created in the UK. But, if you have a pending application in the EU, then you must file in the UK. Remember that where you have an EU right, after December 31, 2020, you […]

There is nothing more important in the trademark field than the trademark a client chooses to protect. From my perspective, there is no trademark that out of the starting gate is important. Why? Because there is no goodwill associated with the trademark! Its that goodwill that will make the trademark valuable. Stop thinking about what […]

The Northern District reiterated on October 26, 2020, its commitment to Initial Interest Confusion as a basis of trademark infringement as well as trademark infringement by metatag.  In Holbrook MFG LLC et al v. Rhyno Manufacturing Inc. et al, 2020 WL 6343083, the Court had a plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction for trademark infringement.  The […]