Tag Archives: Lanham Act
Are “Disparaging’ Trademarks Allowed?
The Lanham Act is a federal statute that governs trademarks, service marks and other forms of unfair competition. Section 2(a) of the act forbids the registration of trademarks that are deemed to be ‘disparaging’. While that would seem to answer the question, recently that provision has come under fire for constitutional reasons. Late last… Read More »
Federal Circuit May Allow Offensive Trademarks
A usually obscure trademark law doctrine has been in the news more and more over the past few months. 15 U.S.C. 1052(a) forbids the federal registration of a trademark, if that mark would disparage or offend certain groups of people. It was this section of the Lanham Act that recently resulted in the cancellation… Read More »
Responding to False Advertising
One of the most frustrating things for a business owner to experience is having another company gain an unfair advantage through fraud or deceit. One common way this can happen is through false advertising. Fortunately, companies whose competitors are selling products using false or misleading advertising do not have to wait for the government… Read More »
Potential Changes to Attorney’s Fees in Trademark Lawsuits
Each branch of intellectual property has its own statutes and rules, but every so often, decisions in one sphere can bleed over into another. Such a situation might be happening now with regard to a patent law decision that is making ripples in trademark cases. Last year, the United States Supreme Court decided the… Read More »
Keeping Trademarks Covered: Avoiding Naked Licenses
Trademarks are commonly referred to as “source-identifiers.” They are logos or words that tell consumers where the good or service that they are purchasing comes from. This makes trademark licensing a bit of an unusual problem. After all, if the point of the mark is to tell consumers who makes a product, would it… Read More »
Federal Regulations and False Advertising
Organizations within the federal government do not always communicate well with each other. This can be a problem for companies trying to operate under a web of federal regulations because approval in one place does not necessarily mean approval across the board. One recent example of this was the Supreme Court case Pom Wonderful… Read More »
