Building and protecting a brand is integral to becoming successful.  As such, brands and trademarks become extremely valuable assets of a company or entrepreneur, and should be properly managed, registered, and protected. 

The Supreme Court partially struck down law barring registration of marks that are considered disparaging in the landmark decision Matal v. Tam. The Court affirmed the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision to allow an Asian American music group to trademark “The Slants” for their band name, even though the USPTO previously rejected registration on the grounds that the mark was a racial slur.

Dr. Seuss’s estate filed a lawsuit against Gerrold - Star Trek on claims of copyright and trademark infringement. At issue is a comic that was co-written by Gerrold called “Oh the Places You’ll Boldly Go.”  The comic combines recognizable elements from both the Star Trek universe and Dr. Seuss’s copyrights.

Wickr is a mobile messaging application that allows for the auto-deletion of messages and requirement of passcodes to retrieve messages.  No law prohibits companies from using such applications, but the rules of evidentiary procedure generally require companies to preserve records that may be deemed relevant to litigation.  As such, Uber’s mere use of Wickr is the first major case to raise the issue of encryption and automated-deletion within companies.

After admitting that they paid $100,000 to hackers in exchange for their silence regarding a data breach, Uber is now being sued over the breach that resulted in the theft of approximately 57 million people’s personal information and the disclosure of 600,000 Uber drivers’ license numbers.

Starbuck’s ongoing issues with trademark registration at the USPTO. This article covers the type of issues involved with trademark prosecution and the nuances in drafting applications and submission of proper specimens to avoid unnecessary delays and costs in prosecution.

Europe’s implementation of the General Data Regulation Protection, GDPR, comes in direct conflict with ICANN’s generally accepted guidelines provided by ICANN regarding domain name registries and the personal information published publicly when a citizen registers a domain. ICANN’s push for transparency may come to an end.