A federal judge dismissed a trademark suit brought by a North Carolina law firm branding itself the “Beer Law Center” against a Colorado firm calling itself “Beer Law HQ”—on jurisdictional grounds. But the case raises a deeper question: when your mark is highly descriptive, how defensible is it really? Meanwhile, Autodesk sued Google over the […]

The Blockbuster brand—once synonymous with Friday night movie rentals—is now fighting a trademark battle against a Mississippi-based animal feed company it says is exploiting the Blockbuster legacy. This is a reminder that brand equity doesn’t disappear just because a company’s original business model did. And third parties will try to capitalize on dormant goodwill. For […]

Recently, in Ex parte Carmody, the PTAB reversed an examiner’s eligibility rejection of an AI patent application, signaling that the USPTO’s updated guidance is creating a clearer path to AI patent protection. At the same time, the Federal Circuit has shown caution about rulings that could render all AI unpatentable. For companies investing heavily in […]