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In Entertainment Content, Inc . v. Cooper Holdings, Inc., by change of name from Career Sports & Entertainment, Inc. we saw the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board chip away at the 17 third-party registrations that Cooper Holdings offered to demonstrate the conceptual weakness of the JUSTICE CENTRAL mark. What started as a promising argument quickly …
Continue reading “Conceptual Weakness Must Focus on Registrant’s Goods”
The relatedness of goods and services factor is very important in the likelihood of confusion analysis. Indeed, the fundamental inquiry mandated by Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act goes to the cumulative effect of differences in the essential characteristics of the goods and differences in the marks. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a …
Continue reading “A Deep Dive on the Relatedness of Goods and Services Factor”
Trademark dilution is one of three key likelihood of confusion factors that must be evaluated when conducting a trademark search and then re-evaluated if a registration refusal arises. Trademark dilution directly impacts the evaluation of the other likelihood of confusion factors. The weaker the senior user’s mark, the closer the junior user’s mark can come …
Continue reading “Trademark Dilution is Deciding Factor In Recent TTAB Case”
The Willamette Week reported that a Portland vegan ice cream company changed its name to Little Chickpea after Gerber complained that the company’s proposed LITTLE BEAN name was likely to cause confusion with its registered mark LIL’ BEANIES. Little Chickpea said in the story that Gerber insisted that the company change its name even though …
Continue reading “Infringing LIL’ BEANIES is not Like Taking Candy from a Baby”
The analysis of the similarity of the marks involves the consideration of three factors: (1) visual similarity; (2) sound similarity; and (3) similar connotation. Generally, the visual similarity of the marks factor trumps the other two factors. But for the second time in about three months, the connotation factor has been the dispositive factor. Don’t …
Continue reading “Connotation is the Deciding Factor in Registration Refusal”
Before you get too excited about the headline, this most recent TTAB decision may be another curveball and something that will not become the norm. On the other hand, it could be the start of something so we will be watching to see if another trend develops. The trend that may be starting is whether …
Continue reading “Do You Believe in Miracles … Trade Channels Decide TTAB Case”
Simpson Industries recently won an appeal before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board – one of the few reversals that occurred this year – by properly making the strength argument. Because it executed the strength argument well, Simpson Industries was able to narrow the scope of rights in the cited mark, which allowed the differences …
Continue reading “Strength Argument Done the Right Way Wins at TTAB”
Trademark applications for words are generally filed with a standard character drawing. A trademark registration issued with a standard character drawing extends protection in the words to all forms of stylization, size, and color. A standard character drawing does not extend protection to all possible design elements in a mark. A recent Trademark Trial and …
Continue reading “Where Font Stylization Stops and Design Begins”
When it came to the similarity of the marks likelihood of confusion factor, a whiskey distillery threw the kitchen sink at the Trademark Office and still lost because of a single word. Unfortunately for the applicant, this was a situation where the Trademark Office should have exercised its discretion to look at the two marks …
Continue reading “Single Word Defeats Entire Whiskey Distillery Logo”
Years ago it was a successful strategy to avoid a likelihood of confusion by adding a house mark to a proposed mark regardless of whether the shared term was conceptual weak. However, times changed and what used to be a successful strategy now only works under certain circumstances. According to the Trademark Manual of Examining …
Continue reading “Smith & Wesson House Mark Can’t Distinguish Shared Terms”