Trademark Application | "Business Owners Need to be Vigilant in Protecting Their Domain Names"

By : Cox Padmore Skolnik & Shakarchy
Source : http://www.digitaljournal.com
Category : Trademark Application

Complex legal disputes can arise when one business registers a particular domain name and another business subsequently attempts to obtain a trademark in the same words.

In today's tech age, you can scarcely find a business that doesn't have some type of online presence. In fact, many "stores" are almost exclusively found online - such as Amazon.com. Consequently, many traditional "brick and mortar" stores are finding themselves on the losing end of a battle between themselves and their online counterparts, given that online stores have much lower overhead costs.
In an effort to take part in this technological revolution, business owners routinely register new domain names in order to protect their spot on the internet. Many business owners believe - often mistakenly - that simply registering this domain name provides them some trademark protection in the domain name. This assumption can prove costly to a business owner as trademark litigation is likely to occur if they believe simply registering a domain is the same as a trademark.

Domain names and trademark priority

Disputes can arise when one business registers a particular domain name and another business subsequently attempts to obtain a trademark in the same words. Obviously, the company owning the domain name would like to object to the trademark application of the second company and protect its "rights" in the domain name. However, the first company can only protect the domain name, and stop the second company from registering the trademark, if it can show it has priority in the mark - meaning it "used" the mark first.
Unfortunately, this question has yet to be expressly determined in the Second Circuit, but other circuits and Patent and Trademark Office decisions have concluded that simply registering a domain does not create trademark rights. In fact, an often cited Ninth Circuit decision - Brookfield Communications v. West Coast Entertainment- has expressly stated that registration of a domain name does not by itself constitute "use" for the purpose of establishing trademark priority, even if the company intends to eventually use the domain commercially.
This particular proposition was also recently recognized in an Arizona federal case in which a company had registered a domain name but still hadn't created a website - the domain name was simply used as a "splash page" filled with third-party advertisements.
Companies cannot make the mistake of not actually using a registered domain name. Ultimately, a domain name does not become a trademark unless it is also being used to identify and distinguish a particular source of services or goods.

Seek help

The law surrounding domain names and trademark rights is quite complex and difficult to navigate. Even the slightest change in circumstances can determine whether or not a company actually has a protectable interest in a mark. If you are a business owner and you believe another company is using your intellectual property without your permission, or if you want to object to another company's application for a trademark, contact an experienced trademark litigation attorney to be advised of your rights and options.

Source : http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/955998

Trademark Application | "The international trade mark system – what is in it for New Zealand businesses?"

By : Chris Ross 
Source : http://www.lexology.com 
Category : Trademark Application 

New Zealand implemented the long awaited International Trade Mark (ITM) registration system, also known as the Madrid Protocol, heralding the most significant development on the trade mark scene for years.  New Zealand finally joins 86 other member countries in the ITM system, including most major trading partners, and no doubt membership will continue to grow.

The ITM system will provide export focused businesses with an alternative route for securing trade mark protection in overseas markets in a cost effective and efficient manner.  It will also enable owners of ITM’s to maintain and manage their trade mark portfolio with greater ease and at lower cost.

The ITM system allows for a single trade mark application to be filed through the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) based in Geneva, rather than filing separate applications in each jurisdiction where protection is sought. The ITM application designates individual jurisdictions where protection is required, and once WIPO has accepted the application it passes details of the application to the designated national trade mark offices without the need for foreign trade mark attorney involvement and associated cost.

Each designated national trade mark office then examines the application against their national requirements for grant of registered trade mark protection, and if it complies, WIPO is notified and protection is granted in that jurisdiction to the same extent as if the trade mark had been registered nationally. It is also possible to designate new jurisdictions where registration under an ITM is required – an important feature as membership of the ITM system grows.

However, the potential benefits of the ITM system will not necessarily apply to all New Zealand businesses looking to take advantage of it.  For example, significant cost savings are only likely where a business is looking to protect its trade mark in a number of jurisdictions, and if trade mark protection is required in only a handful of jurisdictions, it may be more cost effective to seek national protection in each jurisdiction of interest. Obtaining good strategic advice from trade mark professionals will be crucial.

The ITM system is also not without its “fish hooks”. If the application encounters problems during the national examination phase in the designated jurisdiction, it will be necessary to appoint a local trade mark attorney to deal with those issues and therefore earlier cost savings may quickly be lost. Pre-filing trade mark availability searches will continue to play a vital role in selection of a new trade mark, and assessing whether the ITM or national route is the best way of securing protection.

Furthermore, each ITM registration must be based on a New Zealand home trade mark application or registration. Critically the ITM registration and each national designation will be dependent on the home registration for a period of 5 years. This means that any changes affecting the home registration over this period will automatically be reflected in the ITM and national designations. This vulnerability is tempered to some extent by being able to convert ITM designations into national registrations, but again earlier cost savings may quickly disappear if conversion is necessary to avoid losing protection.

Smaller New Zealand businesses focused on the domestic market may also be impacted by the ITM system. It is expected that the number of requests for registered trade mark protection in New Zealand will increase markedly following implementation of the ITM system in New Zealand, as was the case in Australia where almost 5500 applications were received in the first year (2001-02) peaking at more than 22000 in 2007-08. If steps have not been taken by smaller businesses to secure their trade marks through registration in New Zealand, this will leave the door open for foreign businesses to acquire potentially conflicting rights.

The full impact that the ITM registration system will have in New Zealand remains to be seen. However, it is certainly a positive step towards further integration of the New Zealand economy in the global market for goods and services, a step New Zealand exporting businesses should welcome.

Source : http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2c0fe91e-3001-46a8-8503-d619b283a82f

Trademark Application | "Google Assigned Patent for Collaborative Online Spreadsheet Application"

By : Targeted News Service
Source : http://www.equities.com
Category : Trademark Attorney

Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,307,119) developed by four co-inventors for a "collaborative online spreadsheet application." The co-inventors are Jonathan Rochelle, Chester, N.J., Micah Lemonik, New York, Farzad Khosrowshahi, Pleasantville, N.Y., and John Stephen Danaher, Brooklyn, N.Y. The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A distributed spreadsheet application executes at a server and a client in a network. The networked spreadsheet application can generally be used without requiring a user to install any specific spreadsheet software prior to using the application. In one implementation, the spreadsheet application may include a client engine that executes within browser programs of a plurality of client computing devices and server logic. The server logic may be configured to distribute the client engines to the plurality of client computing devices of the spreadsheet application when requested through the browser programs of each of the plurality of client computing devices. The server logic synchronizes a single spreadsheet document that is simultaneously open at the plurality of client computing devices."

Source : http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-11-08&val=687713&cat=tech

Trademark Application | "Jetstar oppose on Toyota’s plan to file trademark application for “Jumping in the Air."

By : IPS Staffs
Category : Trademark Application

A legal trademark battle is on its way after Toyota decided to file a trademark application on its “ Oh, What a Feeling!” “jump”. The company that has opposed to Toyota’s trademark decision is Jetstar.

From the mid – 80s an advertisement used by Toyota has been showing actors jumping in the air at the end. On the other hand the advertisement by Jetstar after its launch in 2004 shows actors performing a star jump.

An official form Toyota has made it public, that Toyota has filed a trademark application in early 2012. The application has been filed with IP authority of the government of Australia.

Even though the trademark application has been accepted for registration by the Intellectual Property Office Australia, Toyota knows that Getstar has filed a conflict notification for its trademark in Australia.

However, spokesperson for Toyota Australia Mr. Campbell believes that there will not be any problem in the registration of the trademark.

He said that "The jump and 'Oh, What a Feeling!' is Toyota’s because, it’s been 30 years that Toyota has been using it.

On the other side Jetstar informed SmartCompany that it filed the opposition on Toyota’s trademark application just to protect its brand communication.

Star Jump is being used by Jetstar brand for over 8 years. It has been using it since the launch of the airline. The star jump has been use by Jetstar for campaigns in many countries including China, Australia, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and plans to expand to many other areas. This is the reason for the Jetstar opposing for the trademark application filed by Toyota.

Trademark Application | "More Than 10 Million Trademark Applications In China"

By : IPS
Category : Trademark Application

The Trademark Application in China that has been filed for trademark registration crossed 10 million. This number was exceeded at the end of June this year, making China the world’s number one in trademark registration.

Sources say that China is No 1 in the world’s ranking in trademark registration. The total number of registrations was 7.17 million at the end of June. Among the 7.17 million about 6.09 million were valid registrations.

In recent times trademarks have become important in China. This is due to tough competition for Chinese companies in the international market. Apart from this huge numbers the influential trademarks are still low in numbers.

China has been leading in trademark applications from 2002. It was the year when the trademark application in China got up to 300,000.

Trademark Application | "U.S. Patent & Trademark Allows “DEPLOY” Trademark."

By : IPS Staff
Category : Trademark Application

According to the sources Trademark Application submitted by Deploy Technologies Inc. has been approved by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Now the company has to submit the Statement of Use once the trademark is used in the United State.  The mark will then be registered. Once the company gets its first customer in the U.S. then it can submit the Statement of Use. The Trademark Application for “DEPLOY” was filed on 3rd July, 2012. It received clearance on 28th August, 2012.

Now that the Trademark Application is approved and they have the legal right on the use of mark “DEPLOY.” It is important that large scale marketing and trade publication along with media is done to build “DEPLOY” brand. This branding process will require huge investments as said by the spokes person for Deploy. The spokes person also said that they are putting in their best effort to protect the investment and the brand.

Deploy Technologies has not just filed Trademark Application for one. Deploy has specialized in many technological products. They have developed some exclusive products for Fleet Data Management & Weigh System Solutions. The main focuses of Deploy Technologies are centered on monitoring, storage and processing of hydraulic pressures data streams. It utilizes these applications to further calculate the weight and load along with the warning systems for safety reassurance.

Trademark Application | "Google Awarded Patent For Multi-User Face Unlock"

By : David Angotti  
Source : http://www.searchenginejournal.com
Category : Trademark Application

On Wednesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Google a patent that allows one or more users to log in to a computing device using facial recognition. This specific patent, which is called “Login to a computing device based on facial recognition,” allows a “computing device” to use its camera to determine the identity of one or more users based on facial recognition and then grant users access to certain personal information or assigned resources. The patent also describes the process of gathering information used to confirm the identity of a user or users.

Specifically, a small section of the 17,000 page patent filing reads:

“A method of logging a first user in to a computing device includes receiving an image of the first user via a camera operably coupled with the computing device and determining an identity of the first user based on the received image. If the determined identity matches a predetermined identity, then, based at least on the identity of the first user matching the predetermined identity, the first user is logged in to the computing device.”

At the end of last year, Apple submitted a patent application for facial recognition technology very similar to the patent just awarded to Google. Although it is unknown exactly how Google plans to use this technology, the possibility of patent wars regarding its use are likely based on the numerous recent patent litigation between technology giants.

Apart from its potential involvement in litigation, many indicators point that patent number 8,261,090 may be put to practical use in Android phones. This type of technology already exists in a less advanced form, the face unlock feature present in Android 4.0+ devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Only time will tell the significance that this patented technology will play in both Google’s computing devices such as Android phones and in the courtroom.

Source : http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-face-recognition-patent/48167/

Trademark Application | "Google Assigned Patent for System and Method for Reducing Startup Cost of a Software Application"

By : Targeted News Service 
Source : http://www.equities.com
Category : Trademark Application

Google, Mountain View, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,260,876) developed by Matthew J. Bolohan, Kitchener, Canada, Robert J. Kroeger, Waterloo, Canada, and Aleksandr V. Kennberg, Waterloo, Canada, for a "system and method for reducing startup cost of a software application."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computing device has one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors. The computing device initializes a main application on a first thread. The main application has a first synchronous connection with a target application. After the main application performs one or more operations at the target application through the first synchronous connection, the computing device initializes an assistant process on a second thread. The assistant process has a second synchronous connection with the target application and an asynchronous connection with the main application. After receiving a request from the main application through the asynchronous connection, the assistant process performs one or more operations at the target application through the second synchronous connection.

Source : http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-09-05&val=445322&cat=tech

Trademark Application | "New Trademark Application By DirecTV for Competition."

By : IPS Staff
Category : Trademark Application

New Trademark Application has been filed by DriecTV. The application is for “Grab&Go” which DirecTV plans to use. It plans to use the product in the products that are related to mobile and digital video recording.
The trademark application seems to be related with Nomad place-shifting set-top which is a product of DirecTV. The product was introduced by DirecTV about a year ago. This device helps the customer of DirecTV to transfer the programs for the DVR to tablet computers and Smartphone. Until today DirecTV has not been putting a lot of effort on marketing Nomad. This trademark application is being filed for the use of Nomad legally without any infringement.
However, it is totally legal to use Grab & Go by DirecTV. DirecTV could use Grab & Go for the purpose of marketing -tops, DVRs, mobile media services, entertainment services and mobile applications. This is confirmed by the Trademark Application filed by DirecTV on August 30.
With products like Nomad or “Grab & Go, DirecTV could easily compete with its rivals. It is said that, with the trademark application and legal issues coved DirecTV in a good position. Now, it is easier for DirecTV to compete with rivals like Slingbox, Disc Network and also with AnyPlay, which is a Comcast product. It is being said that, there is another brand called “ALLSCREEN” that DirecTV has file trademark application to be used for “DVR slideloading from March.
However, a spokesperson for DirecTV has informed the FierceCable Tuesday that it is still early to make comments about trademarks on “Grab & Go.”

Trademark Application | "WMS Gaming Assigned Patent for Applying Graphical Characteristics to Graphical Objects in a Wagering Game Machine"

By : Targeted News Service 
Source : http://www.equities.com 
Category : Trademark Application 

WMS Gaming, Waukegan, Ill., has been assigned a patent (8,251,825) developed by Craig J. Sylla, Round Lake, Ill., for "applying graphical characteristics to graphical objects in a wagering game machine."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems and methods for providing programs on wagering game machine peripherals are described. The programs may be shader programs for execution by one or more programmable shaders on a graphics processing unit. The programs may provide a graphical result, e.g. an output on a display, or may provide a non-graphical result of a computation to a general purpose processor on the wagering game machine."

Source : www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-09-03&val=440553&cat=tech

Trademark Application | "Hundred percent raise in Trademark Application in India since 2001-02. Large numbers of Trademark Applications are pending with the government."

By: IPS Staff 
Category : Trademark Application 

Approximately 6.5 lakh trademark applications are pending with the Indian government. This backlog is due to the shortage of manpower. There is a 100% increase in the application since 2001-02.
Reports indicate that the Trademark Applications are pending at the examination stage, objection stage and at the opposition stage. All these applications are pending since March 31, 2012. According to the officials, the pending is due to the lengthy process of approval. Other reason for this backlog is due to sudden increase in the number of applications.
The recruitment process is under way for the Trademark Registry. The increased number of staffs at the Trademark Registry is believed to speed up the Trademark Application process.
To make the Trademark Registry office more efficient, introduction of computerized system and organized office process has been implemented.  With this improvement the government hopes to accelerate the Trademark Application process.

Trademark Application | "Primestar Solar Assigned Patent for Methods of Manufacturing Cadmium Telluride Thin Film Photovoltaic Devices"

By : Targeted News Service 
Source : www.equities.com 
Category : Trademark Application

 Primestar Solar, Arvada, Colo., has been assigned a patent (8,252,618) developed by Patrick Lynch O'Keefe, Loveland, Colo., for "methods of manufacturing cadmium telluride thin film photovoltaic devices." The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Methods for manufacturing a cadmium telluride based thin film photovoltaic device are generally disclosed. A resistive transparent layer can be sputtered on a transparent conductive oxide layer from a metal alloy target in a sputtering atmosphere of argon and oxygen that includes argon from about 5% to about 40%. A cadmium sulfide layer can then be formed on the resistive transparent layer. A cadmium telluride layer can be formed on the cadmium sulfide layer; and a back contact layer can be formed on the cadmium telluride layer. The sputtering can be accomplished within a sputtering chamber."

Source : www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-09-01&val=437941&cat=energy

Trademark Application | "Samsung Galaxy Note II has a brilliant 5.5-inch LCD—but no universal search "

By : Mike Gikas 
Source : http://news.consumerreports.org 
Category : Trademark Application

Samsung today introduced the Galaxy Note II "phablet" phone: It features an enormous 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED screen and enhanced on-screen functions that make excellent use of the phone's trademark S Pen stylus. But there's one major disappointment: The phone lacks universal search because of Jelly Bean, the version of the Android OS it runs.

When you perform a general search, your results are limited to the Web and exclude contacts, e-mails, and other phone-based content. You can search internally when you're in those respective apps, but that's a hassle.

Beyond this lack, I was impressed with what I saw of this phone at a brief Samsung demonstration earlier this month (for now, it's been announced for markets only outside the U.S.). The 1,280x720 display is brilliant.

Even more impressive are the phone's unique communication tools. For example, a feature called Screen Recorder lets you record a whole sequence of actions, such as step-by-step instructions for changing application settings, and lets you beam or e-mail the procedure to another smart phone. And a new gesture-pad feature, Quick Command, lets you launch frequently used apps such as e-mail and local searches by swiping the S Pen up while depressing the button on its stalk.

You can also preview e-mails, photos, videos, and other content by hovering the S Pen over it at a 10mm distance. (This feature also works with the S Pen designed for the original Galaxy Note, though you'll have to hold the it much closer to the screen) Another enhancement, Popup Note, launches the S Note app as a pop-up window when you pull out the S Pen, so you can scribble a quick note while you're on a phone call, for example.

Using the S Pen, you can jot down notes on the phone's calendar or add captions to photos. These notes or captions won't be converted to text, but will be attached to the original file so that they can be read by others on other devices.

Other Note II specs include 1.6-GHz quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel main camera with LED flash, and a 1.9-megapixel camera for video chats and self-portraits. Out of the box, the Note II will run the latest version of Android, Jelly Bean,

The phone lacks the NFC technology that allows two Samsung Galaxy S IIIs to share videos and other large files by bumping against each other. But it does let you beam photos across the room to other devices that support Wi-Fi Direct.

No word yet on pricing or when the Note II will be available in the U.S. But I promise a full report of my experience with a press sample in the coming weeks.

Bottom line: With its large, beautiful display and futuristic sharing tools, the Note II will be a compelling choice for those who lack the room or desire to lug around an e-book reader or tablet. But a smart phone without universal search is like a notepad without a pen.

Source : http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/08/samsung-galaxy-note-ii-has-a-brilliant-55-inch-lcd-but-no-universal-search.html