Musical artists often spend years or even decades cultivating a loyal audience by building a brand around their stage names. These stage names develop into valuable trademarks with rights and goodwill built through the careful creation and production of original...
News & INSIGHTS
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named Aaron Silverstein A 2023 “Go To Lawyer” for Intellectual Property
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has designated Aaron Silverstein a “Go To Lawyer” for Intellectual Property in 2023. “Go To Lawyers” are nominated by colleagues and chosen by a panel from Lawyers Weekly to showcase leaders in the Massachusetts legal community. Partner Matt Saunders says: “All of us here at Saunders & Silverstein congratulate Aaron on this well-earned accolade. It is a...
Don’t Fall Into an Assignment Trap
Recording trademark assignments with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) is a regular occurrence in a busy trademark practice. There are a number of circumstances in which recording an assignment is advisable, with the most common being (1) a client has conveyed its trademarks to a new owner as part of a sale of all or part of its business, and (2) a client has acquired a new portfolio...
A Whole Lot of Hugs
If there’s one thing we can count on the Supreme Court to do, it’s to make headlines. The Court’s current term has made waves in almost every legal sphere, including trademark law with the recent clarifications to the Rogers test. The Rogers test, arising from the case of Rogers v. Grimaldi, determined that the title of a noncommercial artistic work is entitled to First Amendment protections and...
Saunders & Silverstein is pleased to announce Jamie Sternberg as its newest Partner
Saunders & Silverstein LLP is pleased to announce Jamie Sternberg as its newest Partner.Since joining the firm as Counsel in 2019, Jamie has been a practical and creativecounselor to her clients, a champion of the firm, and relentless in her pursuit of professionalgrowth. Jamie has built an impressive roster of clients who rely on her counsel for theirdomestic and international trademark and...
Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC
The Supreme Court held in the recent Jack Daniel’s v. VIP Products case that the Rogers test does not apply in cases where a trademark is used as a source identifier, even if that use is also considered expressive or parodic. In such cases, the expressive use may factor into the likelihood of consumer confusion infringement analysis but does not avoid it. Let’s back up. U.S. trademark law...
USPTO Cuts Time to Respond to Office Actions in Half
As of December 3, 2022, most trademark applicants will no longer have six months to respond to Office Actions. Instead, applicants will have a shortened response deadline of three months from the date of issuance, with an option for a three-month extension. The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) states that the purpose of this rule is to decrease the time it takes to get and maintain a...
U.S. Trademark Registration Certificates Now Exclusively Electronic
As of May 24, 2022, as part of its efforts to make the trademark registration process electronic from beginning to end, the USPTO is no longer mailing printed registration certificates. The USPTO will now send to the email addresses of record a link to an electronic copy of the trademark registration certificate. The certificate will have a digital seal and an electronic Director’s signature....
Spring Happenings at Saunders & Silverstein
As we look forward to spring, we wanted to share some exciting happenings and the latest firm news with you. Attorney Matt Saunders will present at a Connecticut Bar Association webinar on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 12:00 PM EST. The webinar, NFTs, Fine Art, and Software: The Many Faces of Copyright Fair Use, will cover fair use and copyright in a number of key areas...
World Trademark Review Recognizes Saunders & Silverstein and Two Attorneys as Top Trademark Professionals
We are pleased to announce that World Trademark Review (WTR) has recognized the Saunders & Silverstein LLP team and two of its attorneys, Aaron Silverstein and Jamie Sternberg, in its WTR 1000 2022 rankings. They are ranked as top trademark professionals in the state of Massachusetts. The WTR 1000 is the go-to resource on the world’s leading trademark...
