News

New Requirement for Foreign Trademark Applicants, Registrants and Parties to TTAB Proceedings

Earlier this month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “PTO”) quietly announced a new rule pertaining to all trademark applicants, registrants, and parties to trademark proceedings whose permanent legal residence or principal place of business is outside the United States. Commencing as of August 3, 2019, when the...

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SCOTUS Update: First Amendment Protects “F-Word” and Other “Immoral” or “Scandalous” Trademarks

Just prior to adjourning for its summer recess, the United States Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment free speech considerations required the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to register the trademark “FUCT.”  The “FUCT” case is the second in three years contesting federal trademark registration content restrictions. In...

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UPDATE: Supreme Court Agrees to Determine Legality of PTO’s Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees in Review of Denials of Applications

As an update of my reporting concerning the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s controversial policy of seeking to recover attorneys’ fees in connection with district court review of denials of trademark and patent applications, the Supreme Court today granted the petition for certiorari in Iancu v. Nantkwest and agreed...

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UPDATE: PTO Director Seeks Supreme Court Review of Federal Circuit Decision Denying PTO Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees

As an update of my report from last month on the circuit split on the issue of the recovery of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s attorneys’ fees in connection with district court review of denials of trademark and patent applications, the PTO Director filed a petition for certiorari...

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PTO’s Newly-Minted Money Grab: Why do I have to pay the PTO’s fees when its examiner blew it?

Trademark and patent applicants and practitioners have grown used to (and weary of) ever-increasing Patent and Trademark Office [PTO] fees, particularly since Congress mandated that the PTO’s operations be self-funded.  But, even the most cynical PTO practitioner might be surprised at the ingenuity of the PTO Director’s latest revenue generating...

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