Intellectual Property Law
New Matter SPRING 2021, Volume 46, Number 1
Content
- 2021 New Matter Author Submission Guidelines
- "a preposition is not something to end a sentence with."
- Contents
- Copyright News
- Intellectual Property Section Executive Committee 2019-2021
- Intellectual Property Section Interest Group Representatives 2019-2021
- Ip and Art: An International Perspective
- Letter from the Chair
- Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
- McLe Self-Study Article
- Ninth Circuit Report
- Online Cle For Participatory Credit
- Quarterly International Ip Law Update
- Section 101 Has Reached Detroit
- The California Lawyers Association Intellectual Property Alumni
- The Licensing Corner
- Trade Secret Report
- Ttab Decisions and Developments
TTAB Decisions and Developments
Jane Shay Wald
Irell & Manella LLP
"Failure To Function" Let’s Meet At The Junction Exploring What Happened And Why When So Many Cases Lack Trademark-Ish Bases To Designate Source, Though They Try
The Board has with increasing frequency had occasion to consider whether marks fail to function as trademarks because they are terms (or images) in common usage, incapable of being source-indicators. A number of these cases have been designated non-precedential, but five have been designated precedential since October 2020. All are covered in this quarter’s column. Because failure to function refusals are growing more prevalent, this quarter’s column is dedicated to the TTAB’s most recent precedential and non-precedential "failure to function" cases.