While it looks like there might not be much Ryder Cup drama this year, there has been no lack of golf-related drama in recent years. Much of the drama has related to the fledgling LIV Golf tour, which now finds itself in a new dispute. This time, it is with Adidas, which recently initiated an opposition proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to prevent LIV from registering its logo: In its Notice of Opposition, Adidas argues that it has been using a similar three-striped mark for decades and that if LIV were allowed to register its [...] Read More

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 Jacksonville Jaguars filed an application for the trademark #SACKSONVILLE for shirts and entertainment services related to professional football. In the application, the Jags claim they began using #SACKSONVILLE as a trademark in commerce at least as early as September 2017. The application was published for opposition on March 6, 2018. [...] Read More

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 claims the trademark is confusingly similar to its “Block O” logo. In December, the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma filed a trademark application seeking to protect the design trademark pictured below for “[e]ntertainment, namely, live performances by musical bands.” In late August, Ohio State filed a Notice [...] Read More