On Episode 29 of the Law & Business Podcast, Wil Jacques and Anthony Verna talk about copyright infringement, trademark infringement, patent infringement, and some thoughts to avoid infringement. What one needs to do is to assess the amount of damages that may be...
Litigation Articles
Law & Business Podcast Episode 26: Ed Heerey Helps Compare U.S. and Australian Rights of Privacy and Publicity Law and Issues
In the Law & Business Podcast Episode 26, Australian barrister Ed Heerey helps to compare U.S. and Australian Rights of Privacy and Publicity law and issues. This is one of the most fun episodes of the podcast. Anthony visits Ed Heerey, an Australian...
Will the Plaintiff Buy my Trademark?
Will the Plaintiff Buy my Trademark? It's a situation that many of my clients find themselves in. In filing a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the applicant turns into a defendant in the Trademark Trial and Appeal...
Monitor Your Trademarks
Monitor Your Trademarks One responsibility trademark owners neglect often is to monitor trademarks. This is probably due to a lack of understanding about the trademark application and registration process. During (and, hopefully, before) the trademark...
You can now register offensive trademarks. Here is why.
Simon Tam, the lead singer of The Slants, chose his band’s name in order to “reclaim” the term and “drain its denigrating force as a derogatory term for Asian persons.” In 2011, he attempted to trademark the name, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused...
What are the DuPont Factors?
What are the Dupont Factors? The scope of a trademark – either its use or its application for registration – is determined by whether there is “likelihood of confusion” (note that this is different from whether there...
Important Patent Litigation Decision from the Supreme Court
Navigating Patent Lawsuits Post-TC Heartland Decision: Understanding Jurisdiction and Venue Introduction: On May 22, 2017, the Supreme Court rendered a pivotal decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, reshaping the landscape of patent litigation....
Why did Mars Inc. File a Trademark Infringement Lawsuit against a Small Company?
Candy maker Mars Inc. is suing a Wisconsin woman over chocolates she is selling under a name that the company argues is "confusingly similar" to its cocoa extract supplements called CocoaVia. Mars said in a federal lawsuit filed March 24 that the chocolates sold in...
Why Can’t Deadmau5 Register his Cat’s Name as a Trademark?
Why Can't Deadmau5 Register his Cat's Name as a Trademark? Have you heard? Deadmau5 has a cat called Prof. Meowingtons, PhD, so named because he meows a lot, as in “meowing tons.” (This comes as news to us at Verna Law, however, we can accept this as...
Defending the Trademark Infringement Lawsuit: Have You Prepared to Lose?
This is not the most typical advice you will see on a law firm website. Litigation is about parties coming to fight in...
Pornhub Sends a Cease-and-Desist Letter to a Restaurant
The parent company of Pornhub is demanding that a restaurant in the East Village of New York City change its logo....
Video Blog: Thoughts on the OkGo-Post Trademark Infrignement Lawsuit
Let's talk a little bit about the Post cereal lawsuit against OkGo. I think there's been a lot of confusion about...