In two recent cases, trademark holders learned that it was a huge Missed-Steak to sue when puns were involved.

That’s not a typo. The subject of today’s blog is THE. THE Ohio State University filed an application to register THE for wearing apparel. According to news sources, Ohio State demands to be called “THE Ohio State University”. Ohio State argues that THE is part of its name. Sports and journalists have often commented on Ohio State’s branding insistence calling it stupid, ridiculous, pompous and arrogant. Ohio State responds to these negative comments saying that it has every right to protect its brand.

If you needed a crown or root canal lately, your dentist may have used a fancy wand to scan and send a picture of your mouth to the dental lab. Chances are that the scanner was the Itero Element scanner, a computer scanning system that is manufactured by Align Technologies. The Itero scanner requires a disposable sleeve for the wand. One of Align’s competitors, Strauss Diamond Technologies, began selling a competing sleeve, called “MagicSleeve”. In its advertisements, Strauss used Align’s trademarks in hashtags, product descriptions and product images.

When an applicant fills out a trademark application, the applicant has to state under oath that it is the bona fide owner of the trademark. If that isn’t true, the applicant has committed a fraud in the application process.

Siny Corp tried to register its trademark “Casalana” for a knit textile used in the manufacture of outerwear, gloves and the like. As its specimen of use in commerce, Siny submitted pages from its website. But the United States Patent and Trademark Office refused the specimen because it was mere advertising and not evidence of use in commerce. Siny appealed the decision all the way up to the Federal Court of Appeals and lost. Where did Siny go wrong?

Stella McCartney, the fashion designer daughter of former Beatle, Paul McCartney and his late wife, Linda, tried to register the trademark “Fur Free Fur”. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected it as being merely descriptive of Stella’s use of fake fur in her fashion designs. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) disagreed and overturned the decision.

Using someone’s trademarks when criticizing their products or services can be tricky. But if you do it the right way, it could be considered nominative fair use.

Anyone with a legitimate interest can oppose the registration of a trademark. But what does “legitimate interest” actually mean. It looks like Rapunzel may help answer that question.

Using your name as a trademark is doable. Even if someone else has the same name. %CUT% A surname is considered a descriptive trademark because it references a person or company who’s providing the goods and services. Generally, descriptive marks can’t be registered as trademarks. But, the recent case between The Saint Louis Brewery (“SLB”) and Phyllis Schlafly and Bruce Schlafly (the “Schlaflys”) demonstrated how to get a trademark in a surname. The Schlaflys are family members of the late Phyllis Schlafly who was a writer and political activist best known for her opposition to the women's movement and especially the Equal Rights Amendment. Bruce Schlafly is a doctor and he uses his name in his medical practice. SLB marketed its beer using a logo design that incorporated the name of one of the founders, Thomas Schlafly, for about 30 years. SLB sold more than 75,000,000 units of beer, not counting restaurant sales. SLB applied to register the word mark “Schlafly” saying that the surname has acquired distinctiveness through secondary meaning (connecting the name to the goods) and was no longer merely descriptive. The Schlaflys opposed the registration. The Schlaflys argued that being associated with beer was going to have a negative effect on the name. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) denied the opposition. The Schlaflys appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) arguing that the use of the name violated the First Amendment and their Due Process Rights. The Schlaflys argued that the name “Schlafly” is recognized primarily as Phyllis Schlafly’s surname, and that the CAFC should adopt a new test called the “change in significance” test, “whereby a surname cannot be registered as a trademark without showing a change in significance to the public from a surname to an identifying mark for specified goods.” The CAFC rejected the Opposers’ arguments and affirmed the TTAB’s decision.

The grandkids didn’t play nice when it came to a famous restaurant trademark. %CUT% The nationally famous Palm steakhouse was founded in New York City in 1926 by John Ganzi and Pio Bozzi. The Palm enhances their patrons’ steak eating experience by decorating the walls with caricatures of famous people contributed by cartoonists who often exchanged their cartoons for meals. Eventually, the grandchildren took over management. One set of grandchildren became the majority shareholders and the other set of grandchildren were relegated to the ignominious status of minority shareholders. In 2012, the minority filed suit against the majority for breach of fiduciary duty based upon gross mismanagement and self-dealing with restaurants that were owned and operated solely by the majority. The chief issue was the sweetheart trademark license deal the majority’s restaurants were getting. Even though Palm was a national brand with almost 100 years of fame, the majority’s restaurants only paid a flat license fee of $6,000 a year for decades. The court agreed with the minority and entered judgment in their favor. In assessing the damages, the court accepted the minority’s expert damage witnesses’ conclusions that the majority’s restaurants should have paid a reasonable royalty of 5% of gross sales. The court concluded that the undervalued license agreements were self-dealing by the majority and an example of textbook fiduciary misconduct. Even though the statute of limitations limited the damages to six years of royalties, the royalty damages were over $68 million. Additional damages for other breaches of fiduciary duty were also awarded, along with interest and attorney fees, which increase the total judgment to over $120 million.