Patent and Trademark

Trademark Violation – Challenging a Domain Name The protections afforded to a trademark owner are not limited to the owner’s business and brand. Those protections extend to the domain name for the website of your business. As a result, if you become aware of another business attempting to use your domain, or strikingly similar, domain, you may be able to file a formal dispute. Domain Disputes on the Rise It is becoming increasingly common for businesses to discover domains that are using their company information. In certain circumstances, a third party may have intentionally registered a domain using your business…

Trademark owners often mistakenly believe that once their trademark is successfully registered, they are good to go and do not need to take any other action. It is an error made with surprising regularity by new trademark owners. Unfortunately, this is not accurate. Here is the reality – when you register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the maintenance responsibilities fall on you. This means that you need to take steps to protect your trademark from infringement. As a result, trademark owners need to be proactive and ensure they have an effective enforcement program in place…

Overview of the Trademark Renewal Audit Program If you registered a trademark and are looking to renew the registration, it is important to be prepared for a heightened level of scrutiny. Why? Because the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established a program requiring certain trademark registrants to do more than simply renew their trademark and substantiate their continued use of the items listed in their trademark application, or applications. The new program is an audit whereby the USPTO is requiring trademark registrants to ensure that every item listed is being actively sold in connection with the registered trademark….

            While President Trump officially unveiled the flag of the country’s newest military unit, Space Force, Netflix has been working to secure trademark rights to the same name for its comedy series across the globe. Prior to the series’ launch in late May, the popular streaming company secured rights to the show’s logo in certain countries in Europe, as well as, Australia and Mexico. The Department of the Air Force has since filed its own United States trademark applications for registration of “SPACE FORCE,” both of which remain pending. Currently, the Trademark Electronic Search System indicates Netflix has not yet…

            The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was recently required to determine whether a patent application may list artificial intelligence as an inventor. At issue were two patent applications for two separate, seemingly mundane devices. One application described a shape-shifting container for food and the other an emergency flashlight. The two inventions were created by DABUS, an artificial intelligence system created by physicist and artificial intelligence researcher Stephen Thaler. In a published decision, the USPTO determined that neither DABUS, nor any other artificial intelligence, can be listed as an inventor on a patent filing.             For a patent…

            Labrador Diagnostics has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against BioFire Diagnostics, a company that makes medical testing equipment and most recently, developed a test for the new coronavirus. The lawsuit alleges patent infringement of two of Labrador’s patents related to testing the presence of substances in bodily fluids. Labrador purchased these, and other, original Theranos’ patents after the failed blood-testing startup sold its patent portfolio to Fortress Investment Group in 2018.             One of the Theranos patents, United States Patent No. 8,283,155, teaches point-of-care fluidic systems and uses thereof. The…