Supreme Court - On November 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com. The questions before the Supreme Court is whether an online business can create a protectable trademark by adding a generic top-level domain (e.g. “.com”) to an otherwise generic term...

Supreme Court - On December 3, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided Peter v. NantKwest, Inc., holding the term “expenses” in the phrase “[a]ll the expenses of the proceedings shall be paid by the applicant” in § 145 of the Patent Act (35 U.S.C.) did not allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to recover attorneys”™ fees associated with defending the agency in § 145 litigation...

Following up on our Winter 2019 Newsletter, on May 20, 2019, the Supreme Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit”™s decision in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, holding that a licensor”™s rejection of a trademark license in bankruptcy constitutes a breach, but does not […]

Following up on our Winter 2019 Newsletter, on June 10, 2019, the Supreme Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit”™s decision in Return Mail, Inc. v. United States Postal Service, holding the U.S. Government is not a “person” capable of instituting AIA USPTO review proceedings ”“ […]

Following up on our Winter 2019 Newsletter, on March 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit”™s (“Federal Circuit”) holding in Iancu v. Brunetti. Accordingly, the Supreme Court held that the portion of § 2(a) of the Lanham Act (“§ 2(a)”) which […]