Trademark News

Counterfeits: More Annoying than a Mosquito on a Summer Night

by Trust Tree July 7, 2022

Boy, is it ever hot in Tennessee right now. And, the mosquitos are thriving. Like an annoying mosquito on a warm, summer night, counterfeit products are hard to squish. The most significant indicator of an authentic product is the ™ or ®. However, many large brands do not use trademark [...]

As Generic as Apple Pie

by Trust Tree June 30, 2022

It’s Fourth of July Weekend! Or should I say, “Happy Birthday ‘Merica!” You probably already know you cannot register a generic term for a product or service. In other words, you cannot use a trademark registration to prevent others from using the term “apple pie” to refer to apple pie. [...]

Apple iOS 12 Bug: Memoji Trademark Dispute

by Bill Ferrell October 1, 2018

Here in The Tree, we love Apple products. We anxiously await any new updates to the hardware or software. We are also goofballs, so we were very excited to download iOS 12 and use the new Memoji feature. “Memoji” is a portmanteau of “me” and “emoji”. The feature allows you [...]

Dunkin’ Don’tnuts

by Kevin Hartley September 28, 2018

I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Just last week, my mother-in-law left a bag of pumpkin spice donuts at my house. The donuts didn’t survive the night. Unfortunately for donuts, they did not survive Dunkin’ Donuts’ recent rebrand either. Earlier this week, Dunkin’ Donuts made the announcement that [...]

“FitzMagic” Trademark may Result in Unwanted Communications

by Kevin Hartley September 19, 2018

As you may have noticed, around the Tree we love puppies, beards, football, and trademarks. This post is about all those things. Ryan Fitzpatrick is best known for two things, going to Harvard and his majestic beard. Also, from time-to-time, he plays like an elite quarterback. Filling in for the [...]

Uber Logo Uber Alles

by Bill Ferrell September 17, 2018

The Uber logo has changed again. This time, for the better. As you may remember, way back in 2016 Uber changed its "U" logo to a more "futuristic" design. The Internet, kind soul that it is, immediately noticed that when turned 90 degrees, the logo looked like a certain part [...]

#Sacksonville, More Like #Oppositionsonville

by Kevin Hartley September 13, 2018

tl;dr – You should always file a trademark application with the USPTO sooner rather than later. Last week, we wrote about when and how to oppose a trademark application. This week, trademark oppositions are back in the news. And, wouldn't you know, it relates to football. In October 2017, the [...]

Weed Spectator sued by Wine Spectator

by Bill Ferrell September 10, 2018

There is no doubt that the marijuana business is a budding industry. Negative public opinions about marijuana have faded and more and more states are legalizing its medical and recreational use. New businesses are seeking the pot of gold at the end of the legal marijuana rainbow by pushing marijuana [...]

“O” is for Ohio State, Oklahoma, and (Trademark) Opposition

by Kevin Hartley September 7, 2018

Instead of writing about blocked punts and kicks to start the football season, we keep writing about blocked letter trademarks. Last week, it was South Carolina’s “Blocked C” logo, this week it is (the) Ohio State trying to block a trademark application filed by the University of Oklahoma because it [...]

TrademarkNow is Launching a Free Search

by Bill Ferrell September 3, 2018

Usually things just get more expensive over time, so it's always great news when something comes down in price. That's especially true with something as notoriously expensive as trademark searching. So, we were tickled to find out that our search provider, TrademarkNow, is going to be offering a free search! [...]