Trademark

Tasha Schmidt, Staff Writer, AMD Law Muti Time Machine Inc, v. Amazon.com deals with the question of whether Amazon’s search results violate trademark law. Multi Time Machine  sued Amazon for copyright infringement. For those of us who are familiar with Amazon, we have probably found ourselves searching for something on Amazon, adding it to our shopping bag, and then proceeding to find another ten items we would also like to buy. There is no doubt that Amazon benefits customers in th

By Gabrielle Sherwood|www.amdlawgroup.com Cannabis: patentable but not trademarkable Cannabis is legal for recreational or medicinal use in almost 30 states, and this number is likely to grow. However, cannabis remains illegal under federal law. As a result, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will not register trademarks for retailers of cannabis, or for products that contain cannabis. However, what is especially interesting is that the USPTO will grant patents involv

By Sindy Wenjin Ding | amdlawgroup.com The Fashion Law Institute’s 4th Annual Symposium entitled “The spectrum of Style” was held in Fordham Law School in New York on Apr 4. I attended the symposium as a Fashion Law practitioner at AMD LAW, as well as a Fordham Law alumna. The Symposium owns high regards in fashion law industry nationwide, and as expected, it attracted many serious fashion law experts, partners in notable firms, executives from various departments and companies, fashi

The Yankee’s successfully took an intended insult and created something great when they adapted to the title “Baseball’s Evil Empire”. When Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino threw the phrase at the team in 2002, he probably did not predict that it would help them win a lawsuit.             With the help of the Major League Baseball industry, a corporation was brought to its’ knees after trying to coin the phrase themselves and sell merchandise with it. T-shirts, hats, pants,

By Kathleen Melhorn | amdlawgroup.com   After adding an H in “Kroma”, the Kardashians are facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit over their new line of beauty products. In fact, a judge ruled that all of the products be removed from over 5,000 retail stores because of the brand theft. The sisters are facing a serious battle considering how deliberate the stealing of the name looks. The original Kroma products, created by Lee Tillet over 12 years ago, have been patented by t

Kelsey Laugel | www.amdlawgroup.com  The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) advised the European Court that Nestlé’s attempts to trademark the Kit Kat’s distinctive four-fingered shape does not comply with EU law. This opinion is likely to effectively end Nestlé’s attempts to trademark the shape of the candy as European Court judges usually follow the opinions of advocate generals. This is merely the latest setback for Nestlé in a continuous battl

By Ozelle Martin | amdlawgroup.com Tyler Perry is a highly acclaimed film creator, screen and play writer, actor and now, a new trademark owner. Recently, he was involved in a blistering trademark battle, in the case of Tyler Perry Studios, LLC v. Kimberly Kearney. The featured actor in this tale of the trademark registration of “What Would Jesus Do?” was “use in commerce.” On January 16, 2008- Kimberly Kearney, famously known as “Poprah” from the reality tv show: “I Want to

By Chloe Coska | amdlawgroup.com The Worldwide famous fast food chain is in the process of securing the trademark term "McBrunch." With the increasing competition of the breakfast market, the McDonald's filed the application for "McBrunch" on July 23rd, as an attempt to consolidate its control of the coveted breakfast market. The Gold M competes with fast food rival Taco Bell with their new morning menu items and also Starbucks which has boosted its breakfast offerings with new breakfa

By Christina Severino | amdlawgroup.com The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed that security software company Fortres Grand has failed to state an adequate claim for trademark infringement against Warner Brothers under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1114 and 1125)and for unfair competition under Indiana law. The district court held that Fortres Grand did not assert a conceivable theory of consumer confusion. In addition, the court ruled that Warner Brothers’ F

By Tasha Schmidt | amdlawgroup.com Fans and people at the South by Southwest Conference have been lined up for hours to see the recent feline internet sensation, Grumpy Cat. Grumpy Cat’s real name is Tardar Sauce. However, her “cat celebrity name” if you will is Grumpy Cat, and this is exactly what her owners have chosen to file for U.S. trademark protection over. They have wasted no time in protecting Grumpy Cat’s intellectual property rights. Ironically, the cat is very sweet-tem

  By Aurelia Mitchell Durant, Esquire (reposted her personal blog, www.aureliamitchelldurant.com) For years I have been flooding my sphere of influence with information about brand protection: what it is and why it is important.  Ideas become protectable brands. The reason that the concept resonates with me is that I have fallen prey to running my mouth about a great idea that came to me in one of my daily daydreams and watched someone else bring the concept to reality.  Sure, t

By Tasha Schmidt | amdlawgroup.com If you were thinking about having an Oscar themed party and furnishing it with replicas of the iconic gold Oscar statues, you should probably think twice. The Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Science has a reputation for defending their copyrights and trademarks. And this is exactly what they did with the company TheEventLine.com. Back in March 2011, the Academy sued the company on the grounds that they violated the copyright and entertainment law prov

By Diana Chan | amdlawgroup.com In fashion, designs are continuously changing yet also seem to overlap among higher-end and lower-end brands. Designers should be wary when launching a design for their brand because of the risk that someone else may create a knockoff or variation of their original design.  Because of this, designers must create something that is signature and innovative to the brand and that will to be protected under intellectual property laws. Under copyright law, the owne

By Diana Chan | amdlawgroup.com Owned by Nike since 2003, Converse’s Chuck Taylors have existed as a classic pair of shoes. Converse’s Chuck Taylor All Stars, commonly known as “Chucks,” are well-recognized by its classic rubber toe and sole and variety of colors.  But over the years, look-a-likes from brands like Skechers, H&M, Fila, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, and several others have now led Converse to sue 31 companies for trademark infringement. In 2013, Converse received federal t

By Francisco Martinez | www.amdlawgroup.com What cybersquatting is and how to combat it is something all modern-day trademark holders need to understand, especially with the continued global expansion of the internet. Simply put, cybersquatting is when a domain name is registered for trademark, often a well-known mark, by someone other than the owner of the trademark who intends to abuse or misuse the domain name, usually for monetary gain. It was such a rampant problem during the 1990