I ♡ Trademarks NewsletterIssue #490
Bri Van Til | August 04, 2026
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Fan-Tactical Ideas
Make sure to advise those selling goods in Tanzania to utilize the country’s new customs recordation system. Suggesting it might be your duty.
Getting referrals from friends and colleagues can be hugely beneficial, but it doesn’t always happen organically. Here’s a bit about how to make it happen.
To provide adequate counsel, it’s important to understand if, how, and when marks are being used. Read this great article about how to stay up-to-date with clients (and maybe even develop some business while you’re at it).
This breakdown of why Van Leeuwen was able to succeed in its trade dress claim against Rebel is worth a read. The authors bring up some great pints.
It’s worth noting that if your firm isn’t profitable, it might not outlast you or even sustain you. Join us for this webinar to learn how to ensure your firm is profitable.
At the USPTO
The USPTO wants you to try filing your US-based WIPO applications through eMadrid starting now. Come October, that’ll be the protocol.
You can now use the USPTO’s Trademark Center to request extensions, amend filings, and more.
Anne Mendez is set to be the USPTO’s new acting deputy director.
When the Chips Are Down
After their $1.5 billion copyright infringement settlement, Anthropic is now facing a patent infringement lawsuit.
What is AI distillation, and how does it simplify or complicate all the infringement claims?
Patent applications for AI-related technologies, including agents, have soared this year.
We have fewer than 10 early-bird tickets remaining for the TMAE Summit, our fabulous TMA-focused conference in Manhattan. Don’t miss out on sessions like this one, which will teach you how to train an AI agent to assist with your trademark administration tasks. Come learn how to be (train?) an agent of change for your team.
China is strengthening its IP protections for chip designs, so it Lays out specific protections and Utz them in a special category. I’m betting that Ruffles some feathers. Oh wait. This is about electronic chips, not potato chips. Never mind.
Professional Concerns
Holland & Knight has an opening for an AI legal engineer. Part of me thinks that OpenAI should’ve had one of those to engineer a way for them to avoid paying over $1 billion in copyright infringement settlements.
You’d think JD.com was a law firm or a legal professionals service of some sort, but it’s a retailer, and they’re looking for someone with a JD to serve as their IP and brand counsel.
Simmons & Simmons, which I really wish had been started by Richard and Gene (seriously, think for a minute how great that would be) has an opening for a trademark attorney.
You should Mac a serious effort to get this job as trademark counsel at Apple. How about iPhone you to remind you to apply?
Have an open role on your team? Email us at [email protected], and we’ll try to get it in our next newsletter!
Odds & Ends
A 12th-century Puri temple in India has registered trademarks for terms associated with the temple and the Puri faith. I guess you could say they were trying to divine what rights they had.
For the first time, the Copyright Claims Board has awarded attorney fees to a respondent after finding the claimant acted in bad faith when submitting a copyright claim for work they don’t own, specifically Happy Gilmore imagery on items like apparel. If only they’d found a way to include the quote, “I eat pieces of shirt like you for breakfast,” maybe they’d have succeeded.
There are rumors Drake might be connected with trademark applications for a saddle shop near his ranch in Texas.
Buc-ee’s is back at it. This time they’re going after Beaver Mini-Mart for trademark infringement.