Law & Business Video

About Law & Business Video

Anthony Verna’s Video Blogs on Intellectual Property Matters

Publisher

Anthony M. Verna III, Esq.

Category

business · business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 May 2019

Latest episode

8 Feb 2023

Latest episodes

38 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Feb 2023

   Video Blog: Lizzo tries to register 100% That Bitch as a trademark – denied at first, allowed in the end. Why?

   The Patent and Trademark Office of the United States refused to register a Lizzo trademark (https://vernalaw.com/trademarks/)application for "100% That Bitch" in apparel. The reason why is because a phrase/trademark has to function as a trademark. Taking a T-shirt and puting a phrase on top of it - we call that "ornamental (https://vernalaw.com/what-are-the-limits-on-use-of-intellectual-property-in-t-shirts/)use". Ornamental use - slogans, phrases - are generally not registerable (https://vernalaw.com/video-blog-8-scandalous-and-immoral-trademarks-can-now-register-at-the-united-states-patent-and-trademark-office/)as a trademark. There has to be some kind of source identification of that particular mark. With apparel, usually it's where the buyer would expect it to be. Maybe on the front pocket of a dress shirt; maybe on the inside of a sportscoat. That's what consumers are expecting - not the front of a t-shirt, which is what this was. Generally, the Patent and Trademark Office is going to reject an application for stuff that is ornamental. Now, in this particular case what bumps it from ornamental to a source identifier for Lizzo? In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board stated that the phrase "100% That Bitch" has become associated with her through the song "Truth Hurts" - through awards that it has won - through the recognition it has received. There are lots of sales about that particular phrase. Let's also not forget the trick that her lawyers - a great trick, by the way - her lawyers used. The front of the T-shirt says "100 That Bitch" and on the back it says "Lizzo." Or "100 That Bith" with a picture of Lizzo and then the name Lizzo under it. There's that phrase and the source identification - they go hand in hand. That is true with apparel regardless of the phrase. Remember ornamental use for a trademark is just putting a phrase on something. It's generally not enough. There must be that association of the source of the apparel and that was the key here. That was the key from bumping that from an application to a registration.

2. 

   9 Jan 2021

   Anthony Verna Video Blog 37 – Thoughts Behind Trademark Damages

   Here's a lightly-edited transcript of the video blog: Hi, I'm Anthony Verna, managing partner, Verna Law, back for another video blog: We have some thoughts on trademark damages. If you are going into federal court and you are going to be a plaintiff, here are a couple of thoughts for you. Certainly, talking to our clients about getting money – and you're going to get money, you're going to get the lost profits and you're going to be entitled to triple those damages. You have to temper yourself a little bit about it because first off, number one, most cases don't go to trial. Most cases settle. So obviously on some kind of settlement, there's going to be a discount on the damages, but you're going to take the discount damages. Why? Well, you know, it's going to be less time in litigation and less time with legal fees. So that discount is generally taken in order to, uh, make the pain go away. Don't get me wrong, litigation can be painful. So that's one particular thought there as to what, why damages might be less than a trademark infringement matter than you were probably hoping it is the potential plaintiff. Also, many products have multiple trademarks. I'm going to pull this thing right here. It was way back to the old days of podcasting, the Blue Snowball. There it is the snowball, Blue and Snowball: two trademarks on one product. If one of those products were one of those trademarks, excuse me - were to be infringing? What I would say is, is there's a house Mark. And then there's the, the brand Mark. And we do sometimes take into account. Well, how much does one Mark matter from the other? And, and especially in a case like that, you're going to see again, your particular damages as a plaintiff are going to be discounted because there's more than one Mark on the product.A lot of products have more than one trademark as I'm sure you could see a lot of the stuff that's behind me, probably it has more than one trademark, somewhere on the actual product. That's going to be true here as well. So make sure that you go in with your eyes wide open into any particular type of litigation, because you need to make sure that you think about the kinds of damages that you may be entitled to I'm Anthony Verna, managing partner of Verna Law. We are a full-service intellectual property and advertising law firm. You can see us vernalaw.com. Thanks very much. See you soon.

3. 

   30 Dec 2020

   Verna Law Video Blog 36: The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020

   Lightly-edited transcript of the blog entry: Hi, I'm Anthony Verna, managing partner, Verna Law. Let's talk a little bit about the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020. That's right. Congress passed a COVID spending bill and tucked in some other legislation. Congress, you need to stop doing that! One bill one thing, but, nope, Congress, isn't going to do that. So, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 buried in the middle of the COVID spending bill, let's talk a little bit about that. What it does. Number one, third parties may file petitions for expungement or reexamination. That's right. The biggest change to the current USPTO procedure is that there's a new provision. There are ex parte expungement petitions against registrations for trademarks that have never been used. Ex parte means it's not really going to be a two-party procedure. It's a one-party procedure. So you, as one party who you filed to show that this trademark has never been used before, that's how we get going on, on this expungement.The third party, can petition for expungement in connection with some of the goods and services or all of the goods and services. The act specially notes that the registrant's evidence of use is not subject to the stringent rules, applied to the submissions of use specimens in the application process. Marks registered from outside the U S who obtained the registration based on a home country registration or via the international registration process may present evidence of excusable non-use to avoid that expungement. Now, why can third parties do this? We've seen a jump - a jump! - in the number of registrations that have happened internationally, mainly from China. They really aren't real, and frankly, have never been used in commerce. So the USPTO has been asking Congress for a way to simplify the process, to get rid of registrations that actually haven't been used in the United States.A third party can also seek reexamination of a registration. If a party submits evidence that a reasonable investigation shows that a trademark was not actually in use at the time of filing based on actual use or at the time that the applicant claimed use the difference between an expungement and reexamination are a expungement, is for cases in which a Mark has never been used. Whereas re-examination is for cases in which the Mark was not in use at the time that the use was claimed and be a petition for reexamination must be filed within five years of the issuance of a registry. Number two, third-party evidence is now allowed in trademark applications. That's right, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 authorizes the USPTO to permit third parties to submit evidence supporting a refusal to register a trademark and to collect a fee from that third party, making the filing.Let's remember our previous video, where we talked about the amount of money that is going to be raised for the PTO in 2021, because fees are going up! Well, here's a creation of a totally new fee, which basically does enhance the letter of protest that third parties have been able to file for many, many years. However, now, a third-party can really throw in that evidence and filed yet another fee, but it does expand the letter of protest. And it does help a third-party to submit evidence of non-use of the applied-for trademark. Number three, time periods for responses to office actions may be shorter, but extendable, right? Currently the USPTO issues an office action and reviews and registration are requiring further information or action. On behalf of the applicant, the applicant has six months to respond The new act permits the USPTO to set a shorter response period, if it wishes. It doesn't necessarily have to,

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