Color-only Trademarks

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What do UPS, Tiffany and Co., and Owens Corning have in common?  The mere sight of the color of their product (Pullman Brown, Robin's Egg Blue, and Pink) brings to mind who they are without ever having to place a logo or word on their products.   These marks demonstrate how real people shop for goods and services and how trademarks are about providing a potential consumer resources to identify the source of the goods and services they are purchasing - while preventing others from using those identifiers to create consumer confusion. Color Trademarks The leading case involving color as a trademark is  Qualitex Co. V. Jacobson Prods. Co. (514 U.S. 159, 161, 163, 115 S. Ct. 1300, 131 L.Ed. 2d 248 (1995)), which noted that a color can sometimes serve as a trademark by itself  “when that color has attained ‘secondary meaning’ and therefore identifies and distinguishes a particular brand (and thus indicates its ‘source’).”   The Court went on to provide that...
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I have a great idea for a tee-shirt!!!

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Tee-Shirt Trademarks I have a great idea for a tee-shirt - can I register it as a trademark??? Short answer - probably not.  The main issue with whether a slogan or word  operates as trademark is how it is used.   This is especially true of tee-shirts. If the mark / slogan is just printed on a shirt – no protection – the Trademark Office deems that as being “merely ornamental” (there is an exception when the mark is also used for other products or business name).  However if the mark / slogan is also used to identify the tee-shirt company, it may serve as a trademark and be registered (i.e. it is a “source identifier”) – the only caveat is that you would need to show it being used in that manner rather than just emblazoned on the front.  Showing the mark this way can be done be showing the phrase on things like the name of an online store, packaging, an inside-tag,...
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Pied Piper’s Trademark Problems

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On a recent episode of HBO's new show Silicon Valley, the hapless coders find themselves in a bind when they realize that the "placeholder" company name "Pied Piper, Inc." was already in use by Pied Piper Irrigation, another California company. The problem is that they received a check from a venture capitalist in the name of the Pied Piper Inc. - humorous situations then ensue as the protagonist tries solve the problem - and then, I began ranting at the television to the chagrin of my wife. Why, you might ask, does this drive me crazy? Not because it is a common and overused plot point, but more notable because it gets both state registration laws and trademark laws completely wrong by muddling the laws of business registrations and trademarks. Someone already registered my business' trade name - what do I? A trade name is the name used to identify the business. States have varying restrictions on...
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Linsane Trademarks

Linsane Trademarks

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Since February 7th the Trademark office has received eight trademark applications for the term LINSANITY.   The products identified in applications range from clothing, jewelry, and sport drinks, to eyeglasses and cell phone covers.  The only problem is only one of these applications is on behalf of the Knick's Jeremy Lin (Serial 85541426); and it is a basic premise of trademark law that you can not register the name of a living person without that person's written consent.  Perhaps more concerning, however, is the attempt of people who know him to cash in on his name - one of the applications is by Roger Montgomery for the purpose of "Business management of sports people" (Serial 85542514) and who the Washington Post identifies  as Lin's own agent. While some of the applicants may try to argue that it is purely coincidental that they want to register the name in the middle of Mr. Lin's hot streak ("by Linsanity, I mean LENS...
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Limitation on Color Trademarks in the Fashion Industry

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In 1992, shoemaker Christian Louboutin began using red lacquer soles on some of its shoes.  In 2008, the red soles were registered as mark in the US Patent and Trademark Office, and on January 1, 2008, number 3, 361,597, the “red sole mark” came to life. In 2012 Louboutin sued Yves St. Laurent ("YSL").  They were seeing red  (pun intended) over the recent Yves St. Laurent 2011 Resort collection, which included red-soled shoes, the Louboutin signature brand detail.  Louboutin filed a trademark action against YSL, which YSL prominently countered with a counter-suit seeking cancellation of the Louboutin trademark registration.  Louboutin responded with a request for a  preliminary injunction temporarily preventing YSL from selling the shoes until the dispute was settled.  The district court initially denied Loboutin's request largely on the basis that . . ."in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition  . . . However, “Color alone “ sometimes ” may be protectable as a...
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Options When Taking Down Counterfeiters – $164 million awarded in Tory Burch lawsuit

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Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York awarded a default judgment to clothing designer Tory Burch LLC in its trademark counterfeiting and cyber-squatting case against  232 websites which sold copies of Burch’s handbags, flats, and accessories.  After none of the 232 defendants answered the complaint, the Court awarded damages of $164 million and ordered that the counterfeit websites be turned over to Burch. The $164 million is the largest settlement of this type.  Additionally, the Court used the process provided in similar cases involving The North Face and Ralph Lauren which ordered third-party payment facilitators, such as PayPal, to disgorge any money in Defendants' accounts.    While it is not expected that Burch will ever recover the full judgment in this case, the ability to take possession of the infringing domain names, along with the ability to freeze related financial accounts, gives the plaintiff a great tool in combating future infringement and sends a strong warning...
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Trademark Enforcement

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When thinking about whether or not to enforce a trademark, keep in mind the purpose of having the mark is to serve as an identifier of the source of the good or service for consumers. With this in mind, in order to preserve your own rights to a mark you have to try to maintain its strength as an identifier for your product. In the event you have adopted a mark, an important part of maintaining it is to monitor the marketplace for others using identical or similar marks for the same or similar services. In the event you locate someone using the mark in a way that might cause consumer confusion, steps should be taken to eliminate potentially weakening of the mark. Consideration should be given to sending a letter advising the infringing user of your prior use and demanding that they stop using the mark (sometime referred to as a cease and desist letter). Before sending such a letter,...
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Trademarks and Pepper Potts – Is Iron Man a good or a service?

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Warning: this may be one of my more nonsensical posts.After seeing Iron Man 2 this week, I felt compelled to speak out about the misinformation propagated by Pepper Potts. During a scene in which Tony comes into Pepper's office, we overhear Pepper talking to an unidentified party about the suit. In the conversation (which I am editing to avoid spoiling it for anyone who went to see Robin Hood this weekend instead), Ms. Potts repeatedly references the intellectual property right in the suit being based on trademark law. My beef? It is clear from the story line, that the issue is one of patent law, not trademark.Trademarks generally serve two purposes: 1) to provide consumers with an assurance as to the source of goods or services; and 2) to protect the value that a business receives from creating and marketing a product. Patents, on the other hand, are intended to protect inventors...
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