Recommended Reading: Farmer and Bosnic: "2023-24 Trademarks Developments"

John B. Farmer, the founder of Leading Edge Law Group, PLC, in Richmond, Virginia, has for more than 25 years written a monthly column for the Richmond Times on breaking legal issues in the e-commerce, intellectual property and high-tech fields. He also lectures annually for the Virginia bar on trademark law developments. His highly practical analysis and advice is always worth reading. John has kindly given me permission to provide a link to his latest effort, co-authored with his colleague, Dana Bosnic, entitled "2023-24 Trademark Developments." [pdf here].

John is a former Chairman of Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) and a frequent lecturer on trademark and branding issues. I thank him for allowing me to provide TTABlog readers with his insightful commentary on what's going on in the trademark world, and particularly at the USPTO and the TTAB. Here is the Table of Contents for this article.

Contents

I. Recent USPTO Administrative Developments That Affect Your Practice.

II. The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment vs. Lanham Act. 

III. Recent Evolution on When a Term or Phrase Fails to Function as a Mark and Cannot Be Registered. 

IV. Pitfalls to Avoid in Seeking Mark Registration Concerning Establishing Mark Use or an Intent To Use. 

V. Latest Developments in the Effectiveness of Citing Third-Party Mark Registration and Use Evidence When Litigating Over Mark Registration Rights. 

VI. Attacking a Blocking Registration By Trying To Pare Back Its Goods/Services ¬ When Does That Work? VII. Settlement And Coexistence Agreements – How To Avoid Barring Your Future Mark Policing Efforts. 

 VIII. The Cutting Room Floor: Quick hits on other important developments. 

IX. Periscope: Big Case to Watch.

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