Month: September 2015

The United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently initiated a pilot program to allow limited amendments to identifications of goods and services in trademark registrations that would be outside the scope of the current identification. Due to evolving technology changing the original product or service, amendments will now be permitted when deemed necessary.

The pilot program was initiated based on user feedback, including roundtable discussions and requests for comments and discussions. Depending on the volume of requests, the pilot program will continue with USPTO oversight.

For the official press release from the USPTO, CLICK HERE.

Our intellectual property lawyers have a broad range of technical expertise and legal experience, assisting individuals and businesses of all sizes in enforcing and defending every type of intellectual property.

In a recent Sixth Circuit opinion for Varsity Brands, Inc v Star Athletica, LLC, a different approach to copyrights was seen for the first time – design can be separated from the utilitarian aspects of a work. This is the first time that a court has adopted such ruling in terms of separating the two within a copyright.

One of the most interesting aspects of the opinion can be found on page 17 citing, “the Copyright Act protects the ‘pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features’ of a design of a useful article even if those features cannot be removed physically from the useful article, as long as they are conceptually separable from the utilitarian aspects of the article”.

To read the full opinion, CLICK HERE.

Our intellectual property lawyers have a broad range of technical expertise and legal experience, assisting individuals and businesses of all sizes in enforcing and defending every type of intellectual property.