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Adidas says it is withdrawing a request to the US Trademark Office to reject a Black Lives Matter (BLM) application for a trademark featuring three parallel stripes. The sportwear giant did not give a reason for the reversal. On Monday, Adidas said the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation design would create confusion with its own famous three-stripe mark. It added that it has been using its logo for more than 70 years. "Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's trademark application as soon as possible," a spokesperson for the German company said in...

Here we go again. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied Trump’s request to trademark the name Truth Social. CBS News reported: "A U.S. government agency has rejected a trademark application by Donald Trump’s Truth Social because the social network’s name isn’t unique enough. In a filing from August 2, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Truth Social’s name is too similar to other businesses, which could cause consumers to be “confused, mistaken or deceived as to the commercial source of the goods and/or services of the parties.”" The reason cited is that the name is not unique...

The name is already protected, but the Scotch Whisky Association says a trademark makes it easier to take actions against counterfeiters.Protected geographical indications are important for both consumers and producers — for instance, allowing drinkers to know their Napa wine actually comes from Napa and protecting winemakers from counterfeiters who want to slap the Napa name on a bottle. But protecting products in foreign countries outside of their home jurisdictions can be trickier. And so, though the United States already has agreed to protect "Scotch" as a whiskey produced in Scotland, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has taken things one...

Tax preparation company H&R Block is suing Block — formerly known as Square — for copyright infringement. Until the end of November, Jack Dorsey was the chief executive of both Twitter and Square. Upon Dorsey’s resignation from Twitter, Square — a financial services and digital payments company with many services that overlap those of H&R Block — changed its name to Block in recognition of its blockchain technology capabilities.

VIDEOThe worst nightmare for David Hogg and his "business" partner would be to find out that a gun company now owns the "Good Pillow" name that they were hyping to the media last month without bothering to register it. A search reveals that a patent and trademark attorney, Ben Langlotz, representing the firearms industry registered the name "Good Pillow" on February 9, 2021 while Hogg was boasting to the world about how his non-existent company would put Mike Lindell's MyPillow out of business. David Hogg's Pillow Company Looks to Be DOA a Month After Media Hype THE GUN PATENT ATTORNEY

China slapped an import ban on four Australian abattoirs Tuesday in an escalation of Beijing’s warning of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra’s push for an independent coronavirus probe. The beef ban comes just days after China flagged plans to slap an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley, bringing the trade to its knees. Analysts said the move raised concerns of a possible standoff between Australia and its most important trading partner that could spill over into other crucial sectors as the world struggles to navigate the disease-induced economic crisis. The Financial Times reports China is Australia’s largest trade...

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has applied to trademark her name and her movement Fridays for Future to prevent them from being misused for commercial reasons, she announced Wednesday. Thunberg said in an Instagram post that she and the movement “are constantly being used for commercial purposes without any consent whatsoever” for marketing, selling products and collecting money. “This action is to protect the movement and its activities,” she wrote, adding that, “I assure you, I and the other school strikers have absolutely no interests in trademarks. But unfortunately it needs to be done.” She added that the movement belongs to...

Looks like Jayson Gonzalez is getting a sweet deal after all. Krispy Kreme is reportedly giving the Minnesota college student 500 boxes of doughnuts after initially asking the 21-year-old to shut down his business of buying and reselling boxes of doughnuts. [cut] Krispy Kreme did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment, but in a statement to Business Insider, the brand said that once it learned Gonzalez was putting the money he made from the doughnut sales toward his goal of graduating from college debt-free, the company wanted to help. "Our main concern is that the doughnuts Jayson...

It’s an undisputed fact that LeBron James loves tacos, especially on Tuesdays. And this Tuesday night, for seemingly the thousandth time, the millennial N.B.A. superstar went on Instagram and announced to his tens of millions of followers: “You know what it is! Taco Tuesdayyyyyy!” This is how he lets people know it is his family’s taco night. Mr. James’s custom usually includes the addition of a howl delivered in an exaggerated Spanish or Mexican-ish accent. His fans love it. And now the 34-year-old forward for the Los Angeles Lakers is making a move to formalize a claim on the phrase....

Outraged Muslims are demanding Nike recall an ‘offensive’ line of trainers because the logo looks like Allah’s name in Arabic. Outraged Muslims – how redundant. Another Muslim supremacist power play. It’s all about control. As if s if Nike would ever do something like this by design. But this is how the Muslim world asserts its authority over non-Muslims. It doesn’t matter that Nike has no clue what they are talking about or that this perceived ‘insult’ is imaginary. Nike became embroiled in a similar controversy in 1997. And Nike recalled thousands of pairs of Air Bakin’ sneakers with the...

When federal prosecutors finally managed to put mobster Al Capone behind bars, it wasn't for murder or bootlegging, but tax evasion. Fast forward several decades and government lawyers in Southern California say a similarly novel tactic could be the key to taking down the Mongols, a notorious motorcycle club that has long been targeted by authorities for killings and drug trafficking. Instead of tax returns, the court battle this time will be won or lost in the decidedly unexciting trenches of trademark and forfeiture law. If the government prevails in a racketeering case in Orange County against the group's leadership,...

Meryl Streep has filed a trademark application for the rights to her own name in media and entertainment. The application, filed with the U.S. Trademark Office last week, asks for exclusive rights to the name Meryl Streep as it relates to “live, televised, and movie appearances by a professional actress and entertainer,” as well as personal appearances and speaking engagements. The trademark, if granted, would also prevent others from using her name on websites relating to the film and entertainment industry. A 21-time Oscar nominee, Streep is up for Best Actress again this year for portraying Washington Post publisher Katharine...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Savannah Port of Entry inspected a container of manifested firearm magazines and discovered 591 cartons of pistol magazines bearing the Glock trademark. The importation of the magazines with the Glock trademark on the packaging was found to be unauthorized and in violation of the registered trademark, said Mark Varga, CBP spokesman.

The case concerns the name of an Asian-American rock band: The Slants. And surely Taft never read a friend-of-the-court brief as amusing as one filed in this case. It is titled “Brief of the Cato Institute and a Basket of Deplorable People and Organizations.” The US Patent and Trademark Office is empowered, by the so-called “disparagement clause” of a 1946 law, to protect American sensitivities by denying trademark protection to “immoral, deceptive or scandalous” trademarks. These have included those that a substantial portion of a particular group perceive as disparaging that group — an ethnic, religious, national or other cohort....

The German parent company behind Jägermeister has filed a formal notice of opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks’ primary logo, citing, among other things, the likelihood of confusion between the two brands and the “false suggestion of a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or brings them into contempt, or disrepute.”

Apple Magic Toolbar So, about that “Apple Magic Toolbar eh?” First things first, yes the rumour that there would be some sort of bar to replace the function keys has been around a long time, and there’s some great mock-ups of what it might look like. I know that.That being said, whether it was 100% going to be a feature, and what it would be called, well that’s more uncertain.Now, of all my predictions (see more on the right hand toolbar) this is the biggest gamble so far.This trademark is NOT in the applied for or registered in the name...

Last week, AT&T launched a new loyalty program dubbed AT&T Thanks, offering rewards to customers, especially those who bundle together wireless and pay-TV services from the company. This morning, Citi fired back at the Death Star, alleging that AT&T is stomping all over Citi’s “ThankYou” trademark. For several years, Citi has had trademarks protecting its “ThankYou from Citi” credit card rewards program, while AT&T more recently filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its “AT&T Thanks” mark. That AT&T mark was published for opposition this week, and it looks like Citi has a problem with it. Citi has...

A US appeals court has struck down a provision of a federal law that barred the registration of offensive trademarks because it violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The decision on Tuesday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, vacates the refusal by the US Patent and Trademark Office to register the name of the Asian-American rock band, The Slants. It could also affect the decision by the agency to cancel the trademarks of the National Football League's Washington Redskins. "We recognise that invalidating this provision may lead to the wider registration...

"the National Football League team is appealing with a provocative tactic: listing the names of porn, clothing and beer companies that use offensive language but nonetheless have the support of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office."

Expect the Mongols Nation case to be dismissed by Judge David O. Carter next Monday afternoon. A hearing on the dismissal is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Carter’s courtroom in the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana, California. The case has attracted national attention. At issue is the question of whether the government, or a couple of rogue federal prosecutors named Christopher Brunwin and Stephen R. Welk, can forbid members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club from wearing the club’s distinctive insignia. Brunwin and Welk have made careers of this. They attempted to seize the Mongols trademarks in...