Intellectual Property

DRAFTING CEASE-AND-DESIST LETTERS

November 17, 2022
Arthur J. DeBaugh
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
Brand owners can get emotional about their trademarks. Whether you’re a family-owned business, a start-up venture, or a marketing professional at a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, you have invested countless amounts of time, money, and effort in your brand.  That’s why brand owners and protectors get incensed when they see their trademark being infringed or counterfeited. Someone else is profiting from the brand owners’ blood, sweat, and tears. “Send them a cease-and-desist letter! Nail the bastards!”  

Spectrum of Distinctiveness: Fanciful, Arbitrary, Suggestive, and Descriptive Trademarks

October 19, 2021
Arthur J. DeBaugh Ryan M. Gaylord
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
What’s the difference between a ROLEX brand timepiece and a HONEY BAKED HAM brand holiday ham?    The answer is more than just whether they would make for an enjoyable Easter dinner.  One is a strong, fanciful trademark and the other is constantly in danger of becoming generic.  This difference in distinctiveness significantly affects the intellectual property protections that each mark receives. 
People sitting around a table drinking coffee and working together.

Two Winners: Interest-Based Negotiation in Intellectual Property Disputes

July 27, 2021
Ryan M. Gaylord Arthur J. DeBaugh
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
Intellectual property disputes often present a difficult choice for rightsholders.  It’s essential to protect the brands, trade secrets, and artistic content that you’ve worked hard to develop—not just to prevent market damage from encroaching parties, but also to maintain your legal rights in that material.  But engaging in formal processes to advance those goals can quickly become costly. 
USPTO Implement the Trademark Modernization Act

The USPTO Proposes New Rules to Implement the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020

June 1, 2021
Arthur J. DeBaugh
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
On May 18, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice of proposed rulemaking, inviting public comment on its proposals for changes to the trademark rules of practice. The proposed rules, which are designed to implement the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020, will give businesses and brand owners new tools to clear away unused registered trademarks from the federal register and will give the USPTO the ability to move applications through the system more efficiently by:
Selling online during the pandemic? Protect your business

Selling Online to Survive the Pandemic? Don’t Forget to Protect Your Business

April 2, 2021
Arthur J. DeBaugh
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
It’s been over a year since the world stopped and COVID-19 sent businesses, schools, and families into lockdown.  If your business was able to adapt by selling online—perhaps for the first time—congratulations.  You have proven yourselves adaptable, nimble, and adept at mastering this brave new world. Now it’s time to consider what you may have overlooked in the rush to save your business during the pandemic.
Twitch DMCA enforcement

Navigating DMCA Enforcement for Content Creators

March 19, 2021
Ryan M. Gaylord
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
Enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has accelerated over the past year, and copyright holders have actively lobbied for more stringent reforms in the new Congress. In May 2020, streaming platform Twitch began receiving thousands of weekly DMCA notifications, prompting it to abruptly delete significant amounts of archived content without specifically identifying the
hemp and cannabis products trademarks

What Cannabis and Cannabis-based Product Companies Need to Know about Federal Trademark Registration

September 3, 2019
Arthur J. DeBaugh
TMC (Trademark, Marketing & Copyright) Blog
In 66% of the states in the United States, plus the District of Columbia, some level of marijuana use is legal under state law. In even more states, other cannabis-based products — such as CBD oil — are legal to some degree. Under federal law, however, cannabis remains a schedule 1 drug, which means that federal law says it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. That puts cannabis-based product companies in a tough spot with respect to protection of their trademarks.

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