As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, the authors here at More Than Your Mar®k want to say “thank you” to all of our subscribers and readers. We are grateful for the opportunity to share with you all-things-trademark… and more!
Keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, here is a feast of “THANKSGIVING” trademarks that are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. » Read More
When a restaurant name is licensed, how does the owner properly compute a trademark royalty? Should a higher royalty be set for a famous mark? These issues were decided recently by the New York Supreme Court in Ganzi, Gary C. et al. » Read More
Danielle DeFilippis and Jeanne Hamburg were delighted to welcome attendees from the food and restaurant industries, as well as service providers to those industries, to a seminar on Thursday, November 15, in the firm’s New York office. The presentation covered a wide array of legal issues, from the trademark clearance and registration process, to trade dress production for product design and restaurant décor, to important contracts involving trademarks, to enforcing trademark rights on social media. » Read More
For decades, federal courts around the country have split over whether a U.S. copyright registration is required to bring an infringement action, or whether the filing of an application with the U.S. Copyright Office is sufficient. At long last, the U.S. » Read More
In a blog post earlier this year, I wrote about the legal haze in seeking U.S. trademark registrations for trademark owners of cannabis-related goods and services. While seeking federal trademark registration is undoubtedly challenging, the hurdles are not a complete bar to registration. » Read More
The maker of Splenda sweetener, Heartland Consumer Products, LLC, filed suit in 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleging trademark infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark dilution against DineEquity which owns and operates Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants. » Read More
Last week, my partners, Danielle DeFilippis and Deanna Koestel, and I had the pleasure of attending The New Jersey Food & Beverage Summit hosted by NJBIZ. Our firm sponsored the event. We enjoyed a series of informative panel discussions, as reported in our last post, as well as the exhibits put on by a wide range of food manufacturers, vendors, and students of food science. » Read More
The Norris McLaughlin Food & Beverage Law Group has been busy with industry events this fall. We recently attended The World of Latino Cuisine Food Products and Beverage Trade Show at the Meadowlands Expo Center. The event included educational sessions and culinary demonstrations. » Read More
Clients often ask me if they can avoid a U.S. Trademark Office refusal to register their brand names (“marks”) by using design or logo elements if it turns out that the words they’ve come up with aren’t available to use as marks. » Read More
Norris McLaughlin’s Food & Beverage lawyers are attending the World of Latino Cuisine Food Products and Beverage Trade Show on September 19 and 20 at the Meadowlands Expo Center. This show includes domestic food manufacturers, producers, and distributors as well as importers and exporters from the Caribbean and Latin American countries. » Read More
