(800) 594-4480
Menu   

Keep it Legal Blog

4 Things You Need to Know About Trademark Office Actions


Anyone who files trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) should be familiar with the term “Office Action”. An Office Action is simply the title of an official letter sent by the USPTO – although nowadays, most Office Actions are sent via email rather than in a paper letter. When a trademark application is filed with the USPTO, the first thing that happens is that it’s assigned to an Examining Attorney employed by the USPTO. The Examining Attorney will review the application and if they find any issues, they will send out an Office Action to…

Read More

ASK DAVID: How Does Marriott Show the Value of a Varied Trademark Portfolio?


Recently Josh Barro wrote an article in New York Magazine asking “Why Do Hotel Companies Have So Many Brands?” The article begins: In 2016, Marriott Hotels, which had 19 hotel brands, merged with Starwood, which had 11. They didn’t abolish any brands in the merger, and so the company faced a challenge: How to explain to customers, or even to its own employees, what makes all 30 of these brands different from each other. That’s right – Marriott alone has 30 different hotel brand names (or “flags” as they apparently call them in the hotel industry). These include Marriott, Sheraton,…

Read More

Podcaster Hit With Copyright Lawsuit for Unlicensed Music


I’ve been writing and speaking for several years about the likelihood of lawsuits concerning unlicensed music in podcasts. See, for example, my 2015 blog post “Can I Play Music On My Podcast?” Spoiler Alert: The answer is “no, unless you have the proper licenses.” Recently, a podcaster was sued for copyright infringement for doing exactly that – playing popular music on a podcast without the appropriate license. To my knowledge, this is the first time that this has been the subject of a lawsuit, but I doubt it will be the last. Universal Music Group (“UMG”), one of the world’s…

Read More

Disney Character Knockoffs – Legal or Not?


Disney character knockoffs come a dime a dozen, but are they legal? A recent ruling took on this issue. In the spring of 2016, Disney Enterprises, Inc. and its affiliated entities sued a small party services business called Characters for Hire (“CFH”) for presenting Disney character knockoffs to the public. The entertainment conglomerate alleged that CFH violated its copyright and trademark rights. But the plaintiff was up to the challenge. Disney—along with subsidiaries Marvel Characters, Inc., Lucas Film Ltd., LLC, and Lucas Entertainment Company Ltd., LLC (collectively, “Disney”)—moved for summary judgment, meaning a ruling from the civil court judge without…

Read More

Want to receive all the latest updates? Contact me today

Click Here

Receive updates from the Keep it Legal blog

I’m glad you enjoy the blog, and I’d love to keep you updated with all the latest legal tips and business law strategy news.

Enter your name and email below, and we’ll be in touch!