This lesson explores section 2 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052, which prohibits certain types of trademarks from being registered on the Principal Register of the PTO, regardless of whether those marks are protectible under state law or under section 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125.
Read moreThe purpose of this lesson is to serve as an introduction to the rapidly growing area of trade dress law. Several new developments have occurred in this area of the law just in the past five years. Most of these developments deal with the correct balance between protecting the freedom of competitors to copy packaging or design features on the one hand and protecting the appearance or physical features of a product when these packaging or design features operate as indications of source on the other.
Read moreThis lesson explores the Lanham Act provisions governing federal registration of collective marks and certification marks.
Read moreThis lesson explores the concept of service marks, and the similarities and differences between service marks and trademarks. This lesson assumes that you have already acquired a basic familiarity with the rules that apply to marks that are used on or in connection with the offering of goods. Specifically, you should be familiar with the types of subject matter that may qualify as marks, the spectrum of distinctiveness, and the standard for determining whether a mark has been used in trade (or, for protection under the Lanham Act, in interstate commerce).
Read moreThis lesson works through the details of patent law's novelty requirement as set out in the pre-AIA version of Section 102(a) of the Patent Act. It also briefly covers the pre-AIA version of Section 102(e) as well as the concept of inventorship. It does not deal with the statutory bars of pre-AIA Section 102(b).
Read moreThis lesson deals with how trademark protection may be lost by abandonment, i.e. the discontinued use of a mark, the licensing of a mark in gross or an assignment of a mark in gross.
Read moreThis lesson reviews the various defenses to and remedies for dilution available under federal and state law. It can be used either to learn the material for the first time, or to review material already learned in class. The lesson assumes familiarity with several trademark concepts, including dilution (and the prerequisites for dilution protection) and fair use.
Read moreThis lesson discusses the social policy justifications for the legal protection of trademarks.
Read moreThis lesson teaches about the concept of incontestability: what it is, and what benefits it confers on trademark owners. This lesson can be used either for teaching the subject or for review.
Read moreThis lesson reviews the threshold principles of ownership by analyzing the "works made for hire" doctrine codified in the Copyright Act of 1976.
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