Sarah Bro
Subscribe to Sarah Bro's PostsSarah Bro is the office managing partner for the Firm’s Orange County office. She focuses her practice on trademark prosecution, enforcement and brand portfolio management, as well as licensing, due diligence, copyright, right of publicity and domain name matters. Read Sarah Bro's full bio.
After Supreme Court Remand, Copyright Infringement Claims Upheld in View of Registrant’s Unknown Inaccuracies
By Sarah Bro on Nov 17, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
In February 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., that lack of either factual or legal knowledge on the part of a copyright holder can excuse an inaccuracy in the holder’s registration under the Copyright Act’s safe-harbor provision, 17 U.S.C. §411(b)(1), which governs the...
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Up in Smoke: TTAB Dismisses E-Cigarette Opposition, Provides Guidance for Effective Evidence and Testimony
By Sarah Bro on Nov 10, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
In a precedential opinion, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) dismissed an opposition filed against an application for registration of a logo mark containing the word “SMOKES,” finding no likelihood of confusion with the opposer’s registered mark SMOK. The Board cited the dissimilarity of the marks and the weakness of the common mark element...
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Oh, Fudge. TTAB Finds Curse Word Fails to Function as Trademark
By Sarah Bro on Sep 8, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) denied registration of several US trademark applications for the mark FUCK, even though the applicant had overcome a prohibition on the registration of “immoral or scandalous” trademarks as a violation of the First Amendment in the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Iancu v. Brunetti. The applicant also had...
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Seal of Disapproval: TTAB Refuses Registration of County Logos
By Sarah Bro on Aug 18, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) issued a precedential decision affirming the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Examining Attorney’s refusal to register two different logo marks filed by southern California’s County of Orange because the marks consisted of and comprised, respectively, an insignia of a municipality. The Board found that a logo adopted...
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A Work of Art? Ninth Circuit Analyzes Foreign Judgments and Fair Use
By Sarah Bro on Jul 21, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit analyzed the fair use doctrine of US copyright law in a dispute for recognition of a 2001 French judgment relating to a finding of copyright infringement of certain photographic works featuring the art of Pablo Picasso. The Court’s analysis ultimately resulted in a reversal of the...
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Ninth Circuit Once Again Preserves Competitor’s Data-Scraping Rights
By Sarah Bro on May 12, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
On remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its own 2019 opinion that preliminarily enjoined a professional networking platform from denying a data analytics company access to publicly available profiles. HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, Case No. 17-16783, (9th Cir., Apr. 18,...
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It’s Not in the Bag: TTAB Refuses to Register Generic Handbag Design
By Sarah Bro on Apr 28, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
Ending a hard-fought three-year campaign to secure registration of a popular handbag, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Trademark Trial & Appeal Board designated as precedential its decision refusing registration of the product configuration mark, deeming it a generic configuration not eligible for trademark registration. The Board also concluded that even if the bag...
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“TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Decision Leaves Big Questions
By Sarah Bro on Mar 10, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
Revisiting jurisprudence touching on the Lanham Act and the First Amendment from the Supreme Court’s decisions in Matal v. Tam and Iancu v. Brunetti, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that applying Sec. 2(c) of the Lanham Act (which bars registration of a trademark that consists of or comprises a name...
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The PTO Isn’t Playing Around: More Sanctions for Improper Trademark Filings
By Sarah Bro on Feb 17, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) continues to uphold its promise to combat fraud and “protect the integrity of the U.S. trademark register” with initiatives to investigate and sanction actions before the PTO that appear to violate the Trademark Rules of Practice or the PTO website terms of use. The latest effort comes in...
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2022 IP Outlook Report: The Developments Shaping Trademark Law
By Sarah Bro, Eleanor B. Atkins and Joshua Revilla on Feb 15, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
Key Takeaways and Outlook for 2022 While Gen Z taught us all on TikTok how not to be “cheugy,” or out of touch with pop culture, similarly, trademark law in 2021 ushered in new and changed regulations, provided further guidance on traditional legal concepts and gave us a peek into how brands may help shape...
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