Supreme Court Rules Against Parody Claim in First Amendment Case
In a recent decision from the Supreme Court, well-known whiskey company Jack Daniel’s came away with a big win against a “parody” dog toy that mimics Jack Daniel’s [...]
Fraudulent Filings at the USPTO
In 2022, the USPTO imposed sanctions on three companies who collectively filed thousands of fraudulent trademark applications. Since then, the USPTO has imposed stricter review criteria to catch [...]
The Value of a Good Trademark Attorney: Optimizing Office Action Response Acceptance Rates
In the second quarter of 2022, the USPTO reported a 55.1% provisional refusal rate for initial TEAS Plus filings and a staggering 85.4.% provisional refusal rate for TEAS Standard filings. If [...]
USPTO Implements the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020
On December 18, 2021, the U.S. Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”) went into effect. As you may recall from our February 2021 client alert, the TMA was developed in response to growing [...]
Caution: Scam Alert!
Frequently after filing a federal trademark application, the applicant will receive numerous solicitations made to look like official communications from the United States Patent and Trademark [...]
USPTO EXPANDS AUDIT PROGRAM AND IMPLEMENTS SIGNIFICANT NEW AUDIT FEES
As we previously reported, on November 1, 2017, the USPTO launched an audit program enabling the Office to perform random audits of trademark registration renewals. After a trademark owner files [...]
Increased Processing Times at USPTO
Due to a recent surge in trademark applications, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is currently experiencing delayed processing times at various stages of the application [...]
The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 Becomes Law
On December 27, 2020, the U.S. Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”) was signed into law. The TMA was developed in response to growing concerns over the number of federally registered [...]
USPTO Issues New Guidelines Regarding Digitally Altered Specimens
The USPTO recently issued additional guidance regarding the submission of specimens that are digitally created or altered. The USPTO published the guide in an effort to combat the increasing [...]
ASSOCIATE CHRIS MANN RECOGNIZED FOR PRO BONO SERVICE BY U.S.P.T.O.
Recently, The Sladkus Law Group’s newest associate, Chris Mann, was recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for his dedication to pro bono patent work. Chris is one of only 75 [...]