In the early 20th century, steam engines were in popular use, and required oil lubricants. Some steam engines used a plant-based, golden-coloured oil called rapeseed oil. Unfortunately, rapeseed oil was not used widely for human consumption due to a bitter…
Read More
It might come as news to many readers that the popular and now-ubiquitous iPHONE trademark was not originally owned by Apple. In fact, in the US, the trademark (in association with handheld communication devices) was originally owned by CISCO, and…
Read More
A store in Vancouver was recently sued for selling popular "Trader Joe's" products which it had imported across the United States border for resale in Canada. However, it was not sued for grey market importation or any other breach of…
Read More
Clients often ask me whether it is a good idea to register a trade-mark, since the common law action of passing off is available to them anyways. The answer is absolutely yes. While passing off is an action available to…
Read More
A client of mine recently inquired whether they were able to sign the Declaration of Use, which is the last step in the registration process for applications filed on the basis of proposed use. That is, they had not yet…
Read More
My clients sometimes tell me they've changed the name of their company and would like to change the registration of their trade-mark to their new name. However, clients often mistake the sale of a trade-mark with a change of name.…
Read More
This weekend I was reading the latest copy of Wired Magazine (February 2013). Page 32 contained a full-page article on the contents of Pepto-Bismol and a list of the rather unappetizing heavy metals that, when ingested, allegedly cure everything from…
Read More
Apple's new iPhone 5 uses a different connector than previous models. Apple also chose to use the name LIGHTNING for this connector. Unfortunately for Apple, the trademark LIGHTNING was already used by Harley Davidson in association with video games, TV…
Read More
A search of the US trademark database revealed 123 citations including the terms SANTA and CLAUS as of December 20, 2012. A handful of these citations are the exact name SANTA CLAUS. Oddly enough, these marks claimed specific protection over…
Read More
Moviegoers this Christmas season may be excited to see the new Hobbit movie, but few of them may know about a legal battle which raged on in Great Britain over the naming rights of a pub. From a search conducted…
Read More