Randy Michels, Author at Trust Tree Legal, P.C.

Articles by: Randy Michels

Photo of a puppy with a magnifying glass

Trademark Searching is Dead! Long Live Trademark Searching!

by Randy Michels September 22, 2023

After 23 years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is retiring its trademark electronic search system. Or, in government speak, the USPTO is retiring TESS. Supposedly, the retirement is not voluntary. TESS relies on a backend system and programming language that will no longer be supported. I don’t know about [...]

Photo of Goo Goo Cluster store in Nashville

What a Cluster of a Trademark

by Randy Michels September 6, 2023

Trivia time! Can you name the first candy bar in the United States to feature a collection of ingredients? Hint: It's made here in Nashville. Give up? It's the Goo Goo Cluster. Recently, a friend celebrated his birthday by planning some "tourist in your own town" activities. This included taking [...]

Accelerate Your Trademark Protection With The Amazon Brand Registry

by Randy Michels August 23, 2023

In today's digital marketplace, brand owners must safeguard their intellectual property rights. If you sell or plan to sell products on Amazon, enrolling your trademark in the Amazon Brand Registry can be a game-changer. The Amazon Brand Registry helps brand owners protect their trademarks on Amazon. Enrollment gives brand owners [...]

Marketing Masterpieces: How Renaissance Artists Pioneered Modern Marketing

by Randy Michels August 10, 2023

Ciao from Italy! I'm currently on a multi-generational family trip. So what does this have to do with trademarks? Well, during a visit to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, I stumbled upon a fascinating connection between Renaissance artwork and early examples of advertising and marketing. Trademarks in Renaissance Art Italian [...]

Rebranding Spotlight: Transforming Twitter into X

by Randy Michels July 24, 2023

After I heard that Elon Musk would rebrand Twitter as X, I did what many nerdy trademark lawyers did: I checked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database for any recent X trademark filings by Twitter or X Corp. I didn't find any, which is not necessarily unusual. Sometimes multinational [...]

Apple vs. APPLE – The Spectrum of Trademark Distinctiveness

by Randy Michels July 12, 2023

During a recent discussion with a non-lawyer about trademarks, I explained the so-called “spectrum of trademark distinctiveness” and used APPLE as an example of an arbitrary mark. The person responded, “Wait, you can trademark that?”. The question caught me off guard since I assumed everyone knew that APPLE was arguably [...]

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Trademark Law

by Randy Michels June 29, 2023

The popularity of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT has exploded in recent months. This has led to some handwringing among trademark lawyers about whether AI is coming for their jobs. Image created with Bing Image Creator So, I asked ChatGPT whether it was coming for me. Here's its answer: As [...]

Need CLE? Check Out The American Bar Association Webinar, “All Clear? Practical Tips for Trademark Searches and Opinions.”

by Randy Michels December 3, 2015

Today, I am participating in the American Bar Association webinar, “All Clear? Practical Tips for Trademark Searches and Opinions.” The program runs from 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET and will discuss the following topics: How to properly conduct a trademark search How searches are treated during litigation The difference between [...]

Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee: The Trademark Rivalry

by Randy Michels November 25, 2015

It’s college football rivalry week at Trust Tree! My Vanderbilt Commodores travel to Knoxville this weekend to take on Kevin and George’s University of Tennessee Volunteers. It’s the 110th contest between the schools, and UT leads the series 74–30–5. UT is a 17.5 point favorite with an over/under of 40.5. Given […]

Halloween Trademarks: Star Wars Edition

by Randy Michels October 29, 2015

Halloween is almost here. Have you picked out your costume yet? According to the National Retail Federation, consumers plan to spend an average of $27.33 on Halloween costumes for the whole family, and a total of $2.5 billion on store-bought, homemade, large and small costumes. It’s estimated that 68 million […]