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As the USPTO implements the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA), it has issued new guidance on how to improve the accuracy of the Register so that it reflects marks in use and does not contain registrations that should not be maintained or should not have been granted in the first place, for example, due to fake specimens, other fraud, or error.
As part of this effort,… Read More »
On October 29, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office began offering a new group registration for short online literary works. Works that are included are blogs, short online articles, and social media posts for example and each work must contain at least 50 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual or jointly by the same individuals and the… Read More »
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 27, 2020, further extended the time to file certain patent-related documents and to pay certain required fees under its temporary authority provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
The USPTO recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic imposes disruption and hardships to small businesses and individual inventors. This extension allows increased flexibility… Read More »
In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues to remain open and has extended filing deadlines for parties affected by COVID-19 including deadlines for patent applications, patent reexamination proceedings, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings, trademark applications, trademark registrations, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings. If the initial due date is between March 27,… Read More »
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Iancu v. Brunetti that the trademark FUCT should be allowed to register in light of existing federal Trademark Law registration prohibitions against trademark applications which are deemed to be “immoral” or “scandalous”. The Supreme Court found that the prohibition against registration of such an application is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech and thus violating… Read More »
On July 2, 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new rule requiring all foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants, and parties to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings to be represented by a United States licensed attorney.
The requirement applies to all parties whose permanent legal residence or principal place of business is outside the United States. The new rule requires… Read More »
On April 3, 2019, President Trump issued a Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods to help manage the federal government’s efforts in targeting the problem. The memorandum targets fake goods trafficking through third-party online marketplaces such as Alibaba, Ebay, and Amazon for example. The memo also targets suppliers, intermediate parties coordinating the sales of goods, and marketplaces offering the goods for sale.
There are times to pay attention to our Supreme Court’s recent rulings involving Copyright Law. We summarize two recent cases to let you know their instruction under the law and utilize effectively in your business operations.
Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc.
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 4, 2019 issued a unanimous decision holding that prevailing parties in copyright cases cannot collect litigation… Read More »
The USPTO is currently undertaking an initiative to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the Trademark Register and as part of this initiative, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) recently began piloting a program exploring the effectiveness of an expedited cancellation proceeding regarding two types of challenges to registered trademarks.
Under the pilot program, the TTAB identifies newly-filed cancellation proceedings limited to abandonment or… Read More »
In a recent Federal Circuit decision, Realtime Data, LLC v. Iancu, No. 18-1154 (Fed. Cir. 2019), Realtime Data LLC’s claims for a system for data compression were invalid as obvious in view of prior art. The Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)’s that the claims involving data compression through “dictionary encoding” were covered by a prior invention and… Read More »
