I ♡ Trademarks Newsletter Issue #435
Bri Van Til | June 10, 2025
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Bot to the Future
Don’t miss this webinar on Thursday about copyright registrations for AI-produced art.
Researchers have built an AI training dataset that uses only works in the public domain, which they hope will eliminate the need to use copyrighted works to train AI.
In case you’re curious about patent registrations for AI-produced products, here’s a webinar discussing that.
The USPTO is seeking contractors to implement some AI in its examination processes, which sparks my curiosity about what they’re building!
Well Suited
The case centering on whether someone could own the “sad beige” aesthetic has been settled.
The EUIPO is expanding its mediation services to cover all trademark disputes. To learn more about disputes in the EU, check out this webinar recording.
Whoever approved the art for this gun-toting Buc-ee’s parody clearly doesn’t know how aggressively they protect their IP. Maybe they should subscribe to this newsletter.
Perhaps worried adidas might stripe again, Steve Madden is suing to clarify the lines of stripe designs. I guess the shoe’s on the other foot now.
Can’t You Read Design?
Even an unsuccessful patent application can serve as prior art to bar a new design patent application. Even if both are filed by the same person.
Just a reminder, here’s a fabulous primer about design patents, specifically intended (designed, you might say) for trademark professionals.
Several researchers in the UK are allegedly buying design registrations—similar to a design patent in the US—to inflate their academic standing.
This pool company is floating the idea that its competitor infringed its design patents. I guess they want the company to sink or swim on its own merits, not their designs.
Professional Concerns
It’d be goofy of you not to apply for this attorney position at Disney.
Airbnbecome this company’s senior IP counsel.
I think this position as counsel for the US Tennis Association would be a good match for you. It’d serve you well, and if you got the job, you’d be set.
This trademark and copyright counsel position is Uber relevant.
InDesigning your ideal job, you would probably list many of the traits you’d see in this listing for senior IP counsel at Adobe.
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
Having a license for a play doesn’t give free rein to perform it; a school canceled its performance of The Crucible after it allegedly received copyright complaints because of “unauthorized change in the script of the play.”
This USPTO webinar will address best practices for expungement and reexamination proceedings. For more about evidence to use in such proceedings, check out this session recording.
The loss of trademarks in Russia may serve as a cautionary tale for maintaining use in China.