Posts Tagged: "Trademark Trial and Appeal Board"

CAFC Vacates TTAB Decision on FLEX Trademark Due to ‘Errors of Significance’

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential opinion that vacated a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) ruling that a trademark registration from GPS vehicle tracking company Spireon was likely to be confused with three trademarks from supply chain management company, Flex LTD. The appeals court found that the TTAB made several significant errors and thus vacated and remanded the case. Flex LTD opposed Spireon’s FL FLEX trademark due to likely confusion with three of its marks, FLEX, FLEX (stylized), and FLEX PULSE. The TTAB determined whether there was a likelihood of confusion using the Dupont factors. The Board found that Flex’s marks were inherently distinctive under the first factor, and using the second, third, and thirteenth Dupont factors concluded that there was overlap between the two companies’ marks and ruled that Spireon registered its mark in bad faith.

High Court to Take on Vidal’s TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark Petition

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted a petition brought by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Katherine Vidal that asks, “whether the refusal to register a mark under Section 1052(c) violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment when the mark contains criticism of a government official or public figure.” The case was decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in February of last year, and the full court denied a request for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc in August. The February CAFC decision held the Office’s application of Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act to reject the mark TRUMP TOO SMALL was unconstitutional. Specifically, the CAFC panel held that “applying section 2(c) to bar registration of [Steve] Elster’s mark unconstitutionally restricts free speech in violation of the First Amendment.”

APPLE JAZZ Trademark Owner Beats Apple in CAFC Reversal of TTAB on Tacking Doctrine

The owner of the trademark for APPLE JAZZ has won his appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), which dismissed his opposition to Apple, Inc.’s application to register the mark APPLE MUSIC. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) said the TTAB legally erred in allowing Apple to claim absolute priority for all of the services listed in its application based on a showing of priority for one service. Apple filed Trademark Application No. 86/659,444 for APPLE MUSIC, which the company has been using since 2015, when it launched its music streaming service. Charles Bertini, the owner of APPLE JAZZ, registered his mark in New York state in 1991 for entertainment services but began using the mark well before that, in 1985. Unaware that he did not have a federal registration, Bertini filed an opposition against Apple, Inc.’s federal registration for APPLE MUSIC in 2016, along with an application to register APPLE JAZZ with the USPTO.

CAFC Says OXIPURITY and OXYPURE are Likely Confusing, Even to Sophisticated Consumers

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Thursday upheld a decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) affirming an examiner’s refusal to register the mark OXIPURITY for chemical products. The court agreed with the TTAB that OXIUPURITY is likely to be confused with the previously registered mark, OXYPURE, for ““hydrogen peroxide intended for use in the treatment of public and private potable water systems and supplies.”

TTAB Rules in Favor of Sony in Trademark Dilution Case

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) ruled in favor of Sony on October 28 in a decision that sustained the corporation’s opposition to an  application to register the mark SONISTREAM for a streaming platform. The TTAB ruled last Friday that the “SoniStream mark is likely to dilute Opposer’s famous SONY mark by blurring.” The Board found that SoniStream is similar enough in name “to trigger consumers” of SoniStream to think of the Sony brand. Of the six factors used to evaluate the case, the TTAB found that four were likely to dilute the Sony brand.