Tom helps out the crew at News12 by explaining some basics of trademark law for their story about a cease-desist letter that was sent to a local cookie business by the owner of the registered Got Milk trademark. The News12 editing crew left most of Tom's wise words on the cutting room floor, but if you want to learn about your trademark rights you can just give a call! Click...
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How To Clear Your Trademark: Part 2 Video Transcript Hi everybody, and welcome to our casual trademark FAQ series. My name is Tom Willentz, and I'm an attorney who's been practicing trademark law for over 20 years. I've got a lot of experience and I have some tips I'd like to share with you about how to clear your trademark. This is part two in our casual FAQ trademark series,...
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Being a winner means having a good offense and a good defense and the same is true about having a winning trademark. TMW Law will help you to develop a strong trademark that you can enforce against others if necessary without ever having to go to court, and will advise you so that you can avoid using a trademark that could cause you to end up in legal hot water....
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Welcome back to our casual trademark FAQ series. This is installment number four “The ins and outs of trademark applications.” In our last installment, we discussed trademark clearance and how it's critical to do a good trademark search before you start to use or apply to register any new trademark. For this installment we're going to assume that you've done your due diligence, you've had a comprehensive trademark search conducted,...
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Our practice doesn’t just deliver legal services. We counsel our clients about their trademarks with the goal of educating the client so that they can make the proper choice and benefit from associating their business with a strong trademark. And when it comes to doing the research to give you an opinion as to whether your desired trademark is available, we dig deep and look closely so that we can...
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Trademark Priority You may have heard the phrase “it’s the economy, stupid,” coined by Bill Clinton’s strategist James Carville as a maxim for campaign staffers to keep in mind so they would stay focused on the issue that matters most to voters. When it comes to property law, and that includes intellectual property such as trademarks, you could use this same maxim, except replace the word “economy” with “priority.” In...
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How to select a trademark lawyer Let’s talk about trademark attorneys. There are a lot of them out there. How do you know which one might be right for you? There are a few key considerations. This post assumes you need a trademark attorney because you want to obtain rights to a new trademark. When It Comes To Selecting A Trademark Lawyer, Ask Yourself The Following... Questions need answers before...
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Trademark scams- Be careful! Once you have filed an application to register your trademark (TM) with the USPTO, you might start to receive some unusual letters and emails. Unfortunately, the world being what it is, having your information on the USPTO website as a Trademark applicant (or owner of a registered TM) may lead to many opportunities to be scammed coming your way. Here are the big three, in my...
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If you answer NO to any of the following three questions, your trademark business knowledge is not up to par. Did you know that if you don’t clear your trademark properly it can become a serious liability? Did you know that if you choose a descriptive trademark, it may be very weak and difficult to enforce? And did you also know that if you select a strong trademark and clear...
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The USPTO has established ex parte expungement and reexamination proceedings for cancellation of a registration, in whole or in part, when the required use in commerce of the registered mark has not been made. This is big news, because it creates an entirely new option for trademark applicants whose applications for registration have been refused under Section 2(d), (likelihood of confusion) with a prior registered mark. As an attorney practicing...
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