Have you ever bought a secondhand luxury item on a website like Poshmark or The Real Real? These resale aggregators can create an attractive commercial staging ground for consumers who are looking to buy or sell higher-end clothing, bags, and jewelry. It is a thriving...
Trademark
Judge Asserts Different “Overall Feel” in Roddy Rich Copyright Suit Win
Music copyright lawsuits are interesting beasts. When an artist obtains a copyright for a particular piece of music, that copyright is intended to protect the specific composition present in the song. However, this can also apply to individual aspects of the musical...
Are Brand Trademarks Necessary for Real Estate Agents?
This week, we will venture into a niche corner of intellectual property: real estate trademarks. Although the general perception of real estate agents may be that they are individuals acting in a solo commercial capacity, like a freelancer, the intellectual property...
Unanimous TTAB Decision Regarding SPLIT DECISION
If you register your band's service mark, could someone else who has worked with your band oppose that registration? It is possible, as we see in this week’s blog post about the mark for the band Split Decision – opposition does not equal success in winning a service...
Single Letter Trademarks: a Challenge of Distinctiveness
Though it is far from a new issue, the emergence of the company X (formerly known as Twitter) has refocused the spotlight on single letter trademarks. X Corp, Elon Musk’s company, was sued by X Social Media in December 2023 for trademark infringement based on consumer...
Can Taylor Swift’s Boyfriend Register a Trademark for His Own Name?
If you are an NFL fan, chances are good that you have known the name “Travis Kelce” for a while. The Kansas City tight end is a two-time Super Bowl winner, and he has been instrumental in the rise of quarterback Patrick Mahomes to become, arguably, the best...
Why the Supreme Court’s Likely Ruling against a Trump T-Shirt Logo Could Be Precedential
A while back, I wrote about two big cases that involved an attempt to register trademarks that some people considered offensive or defamatory. The first involved “The Slants,” a band made up of Asian-American musicians who were deliberately attempting to take...
Dick’s Sporting Goods Continues to Use Abandoned Trademark – At What Cost?
Between a larger company and a smaller company, if you were asked to predict who would be more careful about their trademark application – who would you pick? You might expect that a larger company would have greater access to legal resources, and would therefore have...