I ♡ Trademarks NewsletterIssue #421
Bri Van Til | February 18, 2025
USPTO My
Patent Commissioner Udupa has taken the offer to resign.
While many USPTO workers are able to keep their remote positions for now, it looks like PTAB judges may soon be required to work in person.
Read all about the Trump Administration’s picks for various USPTO-related leadership positions.
If you know any USPTO employees who are wondering what to do now, My Shingle is hosting a webinar for them.
AI’ll Be Back
A Third Circuit judge has ruled that Ross Intelligence’s use of Westlaw headnotes to train their AI models is copyright infringement, and that infringement is not fair use of Thomson Reuters’s copyrights.
Here’s a breakdown of how the ruling might affect IP law.
While OpenAI simultaneously accuses Deep Seek of copying their work and also faces accusations of infringing the copyrights of the texts used to train ChatGPT, a larger question emerges: who will oversee protection of IP throughout the world?
Check out the recording of our great webinar last week about AI and trademark practice.
For the 10 millionth time, if you’re going to use AI to draft briefs, please make sure the cases it cites exist.
Wrestling with IP Concepts
This in-depth exploration of the World Wrestling Federation’s historical fight for the WWF trademark is a fascinating look at brand identity, rebranding, and trademark law.
The WWE is a prolific trademark filer. Check out some of the wrestling names they’ve applied for recently. If I ever decide to be a pro wrestler, I’m going by Pinny Down.
AEW star Mercedes Mone is upset about a puppet created using her likeness: she published in her newsletter, “That’s my intellectual property” and threatened legal action.
Professional Concerns
Don’t leave home without applying to be counsel at American Express.
Put an Exxon this listing to signal your interest in applying to be their technology and IP attorney.
Your current job makes you too Moody’s. Apply for this corporate counsel position instead.
Don’t just (Total) Wine about your lousy job. Cask about his AGC gig instead.
Get this job so you can tell your friends, “Day Pitney right where I wanted to be: working as conflicts and ethics counsel.”
Have an open role on your team? Send a link to your job listing to [email protected], and we’ll publish it in our next newsletter.
Odds and Ends
This ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals highlights that articulating trade dress is not the same as establishing secondary meaning.
A Louisiana judge’s ruling in a copyright termination case might shift how copyrights are understood throughout the world.
CIPO wants to see if folks are using their marks, so they’re going to randomly send cancellations to people.
Speaking of Canada, if President Trump continues to insist on tariffs for Canadian goods, some have proposed Canada respond by circumventing US patents.
An Austrian business owner wants to cancel James Bond-related trademarks in Europe so that he can swoop in and use them for his business. I wonder if the company that owns the marks will be shaken by this. Or perhaps stirred to action.