Trademark & Brand Protection Update | July 2026
One Definition and the Walls Come Down – District Court Dismisses Copyright Claim Based on Misclassified Cabinet Registration Ian W. Gillies & Eric R. Blosser A federal district court dismissed...
Trademark & Brand Protection Update | June 2026
AI Training and Fair Use Ari Feinstein, Jonathan Menkes & Cassidy McCleary While the legal landscape is continuing to take shape, a number of recent court decisions indicate that unlicensed use...
One Definition and the Walls Come Down – District Court Dismisses Copyright Claim Based on Misclassified Cabinet Registration
Key Takeaway: A federal district court dismissed a copyright infringement claim on the grounds that the work in the asserted registration had been improperly classified under the Copyright Act. This...
2 Bankrupt Crew – Intersection Between Bankruptcy and Copyright Law
Key Takeaways: Two members of rap group 2 Live Crew, and the heirs of a third member, attempted to terminate a transfer of copyright ownership in several records the group...
Should Have Written a Better Consent – And How(ey)!
Key Takeaway: The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or “the Board”) afforded no weight to a bare-bones trademark consent agreement that contained no provisions for the parties to avoid...
Trademark & Brand Protection Update | March 2026
Be Kind, Please Rewind – Is Blockbuster Still Famous for a Dilution Claim? Greg Phillips & Eric R. Blosser The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) is currently reviewing a case...
PTAB Update | February 2026
Challenged Director-To-PTAB Instructions Did Not Require Notice-And-Comment Rulemaking Ari Feinstein & Jacob S. Etling Challenged instructions that the PTO’s Director gave to the PTAB regarding discretionary denial of inter partes...
Wu-Tang Style – Can Music Be a Trade Secret?
Key Takeaway: Due to the unique release of the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a federal district court in the Second Circuit has ruled that the...
Be Kind, Please Rewind – Is Blockbuster Still Famous for a Dilution Claim?
Key Takeaway: The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) is currently reviewing a case centered on video rental company Blockbuster, which has the potential to significantly widen the scope of...
Trademark & Brand Protection Update | February 2026
Domain Name Disputes: When UDRP Works—And When It Doesn’t Rosaleen Chou & Shritika Dahal While the UDRP can be a fast and cost effective way to recover domain names registered...
Journalist’s Claims Are a No-Fly Zone – “Top Guns” to Top Gun: Maverick
Key Takeaway: When drafting an intellectual property contract that will remain valid for years or decades, it is important to include terms that are flexible enough to account for unforeseen...
Presented by Netflix—Grammar Police: An Exercise in Claim Construction
NETFLIX, INC. V. DIVX, LLC Before Moore, Dyk, and Taranto. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Common principles of English grammar may be used to identify the...
THC You Later – An End to the THC Supplement Industry?
Tucked away in the text of the law that ended the 2025 federal shutdown is a provision amending a handful of paragraphs from the 2018 farm bill. Although seemingly minor,...
Trademark & Brand Protection Update | December 2025
From Cute to Criminal: The Counterfeit Labubu Crisis in the United States Greg Phillips & Stella B. Haynes Kiehn In the world of designer toys, few characters have captured hearts, and...
Missing the (Lex)Mark – What Is the Proper Standing Test Before the USPTO?
Following a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision and corresponding Federal Circuit appeal finding that she did not have standing to oppose registration of a RAPUNZEL mark for dolls,...
Knobbe Martens Secures TTAB Victory for BW Essentials LLC in Trademark Opposition Over “TROOMY” Brand
IRVINE, Calif., October 22, 2025 – A team from Knobbe Martens successfully represented BW Essentials LLC, maker of Troomy Nootropics supplements, in a contested trademark opposition before the U.S. Patent...
Did They Want to Infringe? – Federal Circuit Denies Declaratory Judgment When Party at No Risk of Lawsuit
[MITEK SYSTEMS, INC., v. UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION [OPINION]] Before Taranto, Schall, and Chen. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Summary: The plaintiff...
German Sandals Follow the Functional Footsteps of U.S. Cheerleader Uniform Shape
In a recent decision, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice held that Birkenstock’s sandal design was not eligible for copyright protection. The court held that Birkenstock sandals did not display sufficient creativity...
TTAB Grants Employer’s Opposition Against Former Employee
In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Board) sustained the opposition by DowntownDC Business Improvement District (opposer) to the application by Roquois Y. Clarke (applicant) for the...
Jonathan Hyman and Eric Blosser Author Article on MetaBirkins Trademark Appeal in The Recorder
In the article “MetaBirkins Update: Is It Art or a Commercial Product?” published in The Recorder, attorneys Jonathan Hyman and Eric Blosser offer a comprehensive overview of the trademark issues...
