Archive for June 2014
Top Ten Most Important Trademark Cases
By Stephen B. Schott Patent attorneys appreciate patent law’s rigidity. Unlike many areas of the law, there are hard rules and unextendible deadlines. In some ways, this inflexibility reflects the personality of the scientists and engineers who benefit from it. But if patent law is predictable and rigid, trademark law is its antithesis: unpredictable and changeable. Its practitioners…
Read More“Hail to the…” Redskins Federal Trademarks Canceled as Disparaging
By Stephen B. Schott In a 2-1 split decision, the US Patent and Trademark Appeals Board canceled several trademarks owned by American football’s Washington Redskins today. The marks included: WASHINGTON REDSKINS, THE REDSKINS, several stylized variations of REDSKINS, and one mark whose commercial value seems dubious: THE REDSKINETTES.The Washington Redskins have been under increasing pressure from activists…
Read MoreTesla Donates Its Patents To The Public: “All Our Patent Are Belong To You
Yesterday, Tesla Motors announced that it “will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” It removed all of its patents from its lobby in Palo Alto and says that “applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in [the market].” Tesla titled…
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