Originally posted 2010-09-29 14:04:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
From Dennis Crouch:
Carl Oppedahl lost his case to register the mark “patents.com.” However, that setback did not dissuade him from continuing to Push against Trademark law limitations.
Recently, the USPTO issued a trademark registration certificate for his “sensory mark.” The mark consists of a sixteen-second musical introduction that Oppedahl uses for his recorded lectures on patent law practice.
During the trademark prosecution, the USPTO examining attorney initially suggested that “due to the length of the proposed mark, consumers may consider the sound to be a mere entertaining prelude to the sound recording, more suitable as a copyrightable work than as a trademarkable source indicator.”
I would have suggested that too, at least initially. Click at the link to see how Carl overcame that objection.
As for me, when I read “continuing to push against trademark law limitations” I reach for my revolver — “trademark law limitations” usually meaning “limitations on businesses’ ability to prevent competition by using fallacious trademark claims.”
But you’ve read this blog before. Anyway, that is not the case here. Rather, this is the good, clean, creative kind of push of trademark as a useful, pro-competitive tool that warms the cockles of LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®’s notorious icy litigator’s heart. It’s creative, good lawyering, and in terms of the purposes of trademark law, exhibits high fidelity.
This post first appeared on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION® | Ron Coleman's Blog On Trademark, Copyright, Internet Law And Free Speech, please read the originial post: here
