Law Offices of Nikki Siesel PLLC

Law Offices of Nikki Siesel PLLC New York intellectual property law firm - http://www.ny-trademark-lawyer.com - handles trademark/copyright law, & related business and contractual matters.

The Law Offices of Joseph C. Messina represents clients in intellectual property related matters, including trademark issues, copyright law, & related contractual and business issues. The firm also handles domain name disputes. Visit The Law Offices of Joseph C. Messina website to learn more.

Precedential Case: Reminding Applicants Beware Of “Naked” Consent AgreementsThe Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“the B...
03/27/2026

Precedential Case: Reminding Applicants Beware Of “Naked” Consent Agreements

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) affirmed the refusal to register the mark GASPARILLA, and in doing so rejected the Consent Agreement submitted by Applicant. See In re Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, 2025 USPQ2d 1291 (TTAB 2025) . The applicant was seeking to register the mark GASPARILLA on the Supplemental Register for multiple classes of goods. The Examining Attorney partially refused registration under 2(d) of the Lanham Act for classes 025 & 021, and the applicant appealed the decision....

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) affirmed the refusal to register the mark GASPARILLA, and in doing so rejected the Consent Agreement submitted by Applicant. See In re Ye Mystic ...

Precedential CAFC Opinion: TTAB Must Consistently Apply DuPont FactorsThe US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, r...
01/05/2026

Precedential CAFC Opinion: TTAB Must Consistently Apply DuPont Factors

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, reversed in part the Board’s analysis of two DuPont factors in the case Apex Bank v. CC Serve Corp. 2025 USPQ2d 1224 (Fed. Cir. 2025) , remanding it for more consistent application of two factors. CC Serve Corp. provides credit card services to its customers. CC Serve owns a trademark registration for the word mark ASPIRE used with credit card services....

  The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, reversed in part the Board’s analysis of two DuPont factors in the case Apex Bank v. CC Serve Corp. 2025 USPQ2d 1224 (Fed. Cir. 2025) ...

In this precedential case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”), the Trademark Trial an...
06/09/2025

In this precedential case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to refuse a foreign word trademark as generic was affirmed. Under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, a trademark applicant seeking to register a mark that includes non-English wording will need to include an English translation of that wording....

In this precedential case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to refuse a foreign word trademark as generic was ...

In one of the early opinions of 2025, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refu...
02/09/2025

In one of the early opinions of 2025, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal to register a mark based on likelihood of confusion. See In re Metabeauty, Inc., Serial No. 97492557 (January 28, 2025) . In my opinion, the decision is noteworthy because it relied on only ten third party registrations (and technically only nine) as basis to conclude the shared term “12” is conceptually weak and therefore must receive a restricted scope of protection under U.S....

In one of the early opinions of 2025, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal to register a mark based on likelihood of confusion. See In re ...

The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 provided for two new ex parte proceedings for non-use trademark challenges, Expu...
08/15/2024

The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 provided for two new ex parte proceedings for non-use trademark challenges, Expungement and Reexamination. Prior to the new proceedings, if a trademark applicant encountered a trademark registration that blocked its application from registering at the Trademark Office, the only option was to initiate an expensive Cancellation Proceeding at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB or Board”)....

The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 provided for two new ex parte proceedings for non-use trademark challenges, Expungement and Reexamination. Prior to the new proceedings, if a trademark ...

After years of battles, this is a victory for dairy groups and cheese producers in the U.S. The Fourth Circuit Court of ...
05/17/2024

After years of battles, this is a victory for dairy groups and cheese producers in the U.S. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ended this dispute, see Interprofession du Gruyere v. U.S. Dairy Export Council, 61 F.4th 407 (4th Cir. 2023). Initially the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) approved and published the trademark application containing the certification mark (aka geographical indication) for “Gruyere” for cheese....

After years of battles, this is a victory for dairy groups and cheese producers in the U.S. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ended this dispute, see Interprofession du Gruyere v. U.S. Dairy ...

The Board’s Fifth Precedential Case of 2024 Suggestive marks with some conceptual weakness are still afforded a relative...
04/22/2024

The Board’s Fifth Precedential Case of 2024 Suggestive marks with some conceptual weakness are still afforded a relatively broad scope of protection. See Sage Therapeutics, Inc. v. SageForth Psychological Services, LLC, Opposition No. 91270181 (April 12, 2024) , where the Board sustained an opposition based on priority and likelihood of confusion grounds. The Applicant was seeking to register the mark SAGEFORTH in standard characters for a lengthy list of services in class 44....

The Board’s Fifth Precedential Case of 2024 Suggestive marks with some conceptual weakness are still afforded a relatively broad scope of protection. See Sage Therapeutics, Inc. v. SageForth ...

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or “Board”) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal for likelihood of con...
02/14/2024

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or “Board”) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal for likelihood of confusion based on identical trademarks, RAO’S for wine and restaurant services. See In re 1729 Investments LLC, Serial No. 90694523 (April 24, 2023) . This is not the first time, the Board reversed on this basis, see our blog post entitled, The TTAB Reverses a Refusal Relying On the Something More Standard…...

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or “Board”) reversed the Examining Attorney’s refusal for likelihood of confusion based on identical trademarks, RAO’S for wine and restaurant ...

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) ordered cancellation of a trademark registration for the mark DANTANNA’S f...
11/02/2023

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) ordered cancellation of a trademark registration for the mark DANTANNA’S for restaurant services, finding that the Registrant’s Attorney recklessly executed the Section 15 Declaration of Incontestability and disregarded the truth. See, Chutter, Inc. v. Great Management Group, LLC and Chutter, Inc. v. Great Concepts, LLC, 2021 USPQ2d 1001 (TTAB 2021) . The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) reversed this decision in a precedential split decision, finding that a party is not entitled to use a Section 14 Cancellation Proceeding if another party files a fraudulent Affidavit of Incontestability under Section 15 of the Lanham Act....

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) ordered cancellation of a trademark registration for the mark DANTANNA’S for restaurant services, finding that the Registrant’s Attorney recklessly ...

In a recent Board Decision, the Petition for Cancellation was dismissed because Petitioner relied on its common law righ...
05/31/2023

In a recent Board Decision, the Petition for Cancellation was dismissed because Petitioner relied on its common law rights while alleging likelihood of confusion and priority, and was unable to prove acquired distinctiveness (secondary meaning) for its mark LITTLE NOTES for announcement cards; greeting cards; note cards; postcards and greeting cards; printed invitations. See Comptime, Inc. DBA Comptime Digital Printing v....

In a recent Board Decision, the Petition for Cancellation was dismissed because Petitioner relied on its common law rights while alleging likelihood of confusion and priority, and was unable to ...

A recent precedential case from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or the “Board”) highlights the problems ass...
12/09/2022

A recent precedential case from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or the “Board”) highlights the problems associated with adopting weak marks. See Shenzhen IVPS Technology Co. Ltd. V. Fancy Pants Products, LLC, 2022 USPQ2d 1035 (TTAB 2022) , where the Board dismissed an opposition under Section 2(d) of the Lanham Act because the weakness of the common element SMOK/SMOKES mandated the opposer’s mark be given a narrow scope of protection....

A recent precedential case from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB” or the “Board”) highlights the problems associated with adopting weak marks. See Shenzhen IVPS Technology Co. Ltd. V. ...

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