As you may recall a number of years ago Mattel sued MGA Entertainment claiming MGA stole its trade secrets when it entered into an agreement with Carter Bryant, the designer of the Bratz doll.  If you are not familiar with the Bratz, they are dolls who are portrayed as teenagers and are distinguished by large [...]

Portfolios of pending and registered trademarks should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure pendency and/or registration is maintained. First we recommend you review your docket and identify upcoming deadlines with respect to outstanding office actions in both the U.S. and foreign countries. We also recommend reviewing your docket to identify renewals and foreign [...]

In trademark news Jimmy Buffett has applied for protection of the mark “TIGER BLOOD” for energy drinks and vodka.  As you may recall the phrase TIGER BLOOD was coined by Charlie Sheen during one of his many interviews.  See the Buffett trademark application at http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007:mm4v2n.2.2 and http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007%3Amm4v2n.2.3. On February 7, 2011 Nicole Polizzi, probably better [...]

Per a press release last Friday, the USPTO announced  ”special accomodations” for patent and trademark applicants and owners that are located in Japan.  The accomodations relate to extending deadlines for responses to trademark and patent office actions, notices of allowance and other notices from the USPTO.  The accomodations also waive surcharges with respect to late payment [...]

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and legend credits him running the snakes out of Ireland.  However, there is debate as to whether there were even snakes in Ireland at that time.  Anyway…St. Patrick is also credited with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, [...]

At the end of this week the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) basketball tournament will start.  This is the beginning of what has been coined “March Madness.”  March Madness was originally used to describe the Illinois High School Association’s (“IHSA”) annual high school boys basketball tournament.  The name has been around since the 1930’s and [...]

Spring training is in full swing this week.  While America’s Favorite Pastime is not normally thought of as an opportunity to talk about intellectual property, take a minute to think about all of the patents and trademarks that are associated with the game.  Besides the obvious (baseballs, gloves, and bats) there are U.S. patents and [...]

Today, when you watch the Super Bowl® take a look around the stands.  Do you notice lots of fans twirling cloth towels in the air?  Well, these towels are “THE TERRIBLE TOWEL®” and were created by Myron Cope, a former radio broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Mr. Cope created the towel in 1975 when the [...]

Jack LaLanne passed away on Sunday, January 23, 2011.  Mr. LaLanne devoted his life to health and physical fitness. When you hear his name or see his likeliness you immediately think of exercise and nutrition.  So, it is only fitting that prior to his death he filed for trademark protection of his “image”  (see below) [...]

With Steve Jobs taking a leave of absence from Apple it makes one stop and wonder is your company known for its products or the face behind the products?  Is your company strong enough to have continued success with the face behind the name gone? Apple has successfully weathered these uncertainties in the past.  In [...]