a r b o r l a w » Trademark

US PTO Changes Federal Registration Certificate Design

Arborlaw — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:31:47 +0000

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that Certificates of Registration for federally-registered trademarks and service marks will change to a new format beginning this month. The new certificate will be printed on stock white paper in either black and white or color, as appropriate. The certificate will still carry the gold foil seal of the office. The redesign is intended to reduce costs associated with the non-standard shape and paper type of the current certificate folder. You can look at samples of the redesigned USPTO Certificates of Registration for trademarks and service marks here.

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Updated Guide to Using Trademarks

Arborlaw — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:54:39 +0000

I just posted the updated and revamped Trademark Use FAQ. Trademarks are becoming more and more important with the rise of lifestyle goods and the social network, as people claim their affinity for brands and product lines as a means of self identification and a way of quickly locating potential friends with common interests. The article includes practical tips for referring to trademarks in print and online, and general advice for mark owners on avoiding genericide (Did you know Pilates is a “former registered trademark”?) and on the power of legal strategies to monetize brands through mechandising and licensing:

Some excellent examples of the raw commercial power of lifestyle branding can be found in Sanrio’s billion-dollar-per-year merchandising of HELLO KITTY® and BADTZ-MARU® and other trademarks over their wide variety of well known character-products — and, of course, the equally ubiquitous DISNEY® and STAR WARS® themed merchandise . . . [a]ll of this economic activity is only possible through comprehensive branding, merchandising and licensing campaigns — and these in turn are only possible through a comprehensive legal program emphasizing aggressive trademark and service mark registration and protection prior to mass marketing and distribution, and including active policing and enforcement of correct trademark and service mark use by business, by the public, and in the media.

While new tactics for capitalizing on brands and logos come and go (metatags!) the general advice for startups and entrepreneurs is still the same: Trademark early and often.

US PTO Processed Record Number of Applications in 2006

Arborlaw — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:13:44 +0000

2006 was a banner year for intellectual property, according to a press release issued by the the US Patent and Trademark Office. 440,000 patent applications were received, and 332,000 applications were examined by the Office. The allowance rate (the ratio of patents granted to applications) was 54%, the lowest on record.

The PTO processed 378,111 trademark applications in 2006, a 36% increase over the previous year. In total, 354,775 trademark applications were filed, a 9.4% increase over FY 2005.

I keep hearing they’re getting their act together. I’ll be looking for statistics to report on how quickly the average trademark application moves through examination and final determination.