Recently I had the pleasure of presenting at the Midwest Intellectual Property Summit hosted by the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum (ICLEF) on an effective tool and process for removing accused patent infringing products on Amazon.com called the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express Procedure (APEX). The APEX program, at its core, is a streamlined process utilizing a neutral party (“evaluator”) to evaluate a single patent claim of an asserted U.S. patent to determine if an accused infringing product is more likely than not to infringe the asserted patent. The process requires the submission of a brief providing legal argument and information to either support or defend a parties claim of infringement.

Recently, the Supreme Court provided some clarity and guidance to trademark protection for generic terms registered as a domain and used as a trademark. In Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V., No. 19-46 (U.S. Jun. 30, 2020), the Court held that the mark “Booking.com” is not generic and is capable of trademark registration, even though the term “booking” is generic for a class of goods and services related to online hotel registrations. Essentially, the Patent and Trademark Office was arguing for a bright line rule that the addition of a generic Internet-domain-name suffix to an already generic term, for a related category of goods, is also generic; i.e. one cannot trademark the term “generic.com” for a generic description of a category of goods.

As we all continue to adjust our lives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is providing relief to those individuals, practitioners, registrants, applicants, or any other person associated with a filing who has a matter before the office and has been impacted by the outbreak.  With the recent passing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed by President Trump on March 27, the USPTO has extended due dates by 30 days for most filings that were/are due between the time period of March 27, 2020 and April 30, 2020.

In a lesser known song about Denver, Colorado, Jimmy Buffett sings “winter dictates everything from frost to naked trees.” This statement couldn’t be more apropos regarding the 2020 Outdoor Retailer Snow Show this year. Anyone and everyone in the business of gear for surviving the harsh and slippery conditions of winter, enjoying a ride down a powdery slope, and imbibing a cocktail in an insulated mug for après ski is represented. 

This past week I had the pleasure to check in on a few clients and take in the Snow Show in all of vast expanse and glory. It truly is a great show and definitely a great place to get a sneak peek of the improvements and innovation hitting the shelves next winter. Given that innovation is a focus of the show and its many attendees, I thought I may be able provide a little perspective as it relates to my area of expertise and perhaps help some of those up and coming designers, developers, and companies looking to make an impact in future years.