Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)

Trade dress is a sub-category of trademarks traditionally reserved for product packaging. However, it can also include product design itself if the design elements claimed are distinctive and allow the consumer to recognize a single source as the producer or seller of the goods. Well known product design cases include high heels with contrasting red soles, iconic electric guitar shapes, and the green color of night-time cold medicines. It is a high bar to clear, as asserting registrable trade dress is stating that consumers will recognize your product as coming from you—and only you—without even seeing your brand name. With this in mind, it should come as little shock that relatively few registrations are granted.
Continue Reading Registers of the Lost Ark Bag Appeal: Cult Gaia’s Unsuccessful Trade Dress Application

Trademarks allow businesses to protect brand names and logos used on their goods and/or services. Unlike other IP, rights in a registered trademark can last indefinitely as long as the mark is in continuous use and all the required maintenance documents are filed. Failure to file such documents results in the cancellation of the trademark registration. Once canceled, the mark can still be re-applied for by the original owner and, in certain instances, another enterprising business. Specifically, assuming the mark has been legally abandoned, the other enterprising business can file its own trademark registration application for the mark. A recent case from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) illustrates how the original owner can still have standing to oppose another business’s registration of a mark that’s remained dormant for over a decade.
Continue Reading A Pulse Found in “Dead” Trademark Rights