With the Masters Tournament beginning tomorrow, this article is a timely reposting of our 2020 article on trademark rights in the iconic Green Jacket design.
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USPTO Adds New Design Search Codes for Sound and Motion Trademarks
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced on February 10, 2026 that it has added a new category to its Trademark Design Search Code Manual for sound and motion marks. The Manual now includes new Category 30, which adds seven codes to enable trademark applicants and practitioners to more readily identify relevant sound and motion marks in clearance searches.
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Universities Battle Over Logos in Recently Filed Trademark Lawsuit
On August 8, 2025, Baylor University filed a federal lawsuit against Boston University alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over Boston University’s use of an interlocking BU design.
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Protecting the Product: Beauty Products
The beauty industry is ever changing, and makeup trends and viral product releases can drastically increase a company’s profits. However, without proper legal protection, competitors can quickly replicate a product, eating into those profits.
In this post, we will address how design patents and trade dress can be employed to provide protection for various beauty-related tools and products.
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The Blue Turf of Boise State: On “Service” Dress and the Creation of Source Identification
As we’ve written about in prior posts, it’s possible under U.S. trademark law for distinctive visual element(s) to become a trademark, i.e., an identifier of source for a particular party’s goods or services.
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Safety Helmet Product Configuration Trademark Registrations Demolished by Lack of Evidence of Acquired Distinctiveness
The USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) recently ordered the cancellation of two trademark registrations for product configurations of safety helmets, shown below and both directed to “… a three dimensional configuration of two ridges located along the center of a safety helmet….”
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Protecting the Product™: Typefaces and Fonts
While copyright law is at the center of a few recent disputes over intellectual property protection for typefaces and fonts, design patents are an often-overlooked mechanism for protecting these designs. Those who develop or license fonts will benefit from the following summary of the available protections for the visual appearance of typefaces and fonts, which includes novel “emoji” sets.
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Protecting Product and Packaging Designs in China Part II – Copyright
China’s Copyright Law protects “works of literature, art, natural science, social science, engineering technology and the like which are expressed in the following forms: (1) written works; (2) oral works; (3) musical, dramatic, theatrical, choreographic and acrobatic artworks; (4) works of the fine arts and architecture; (5) pictorial and photographic works; (6) audiovisual works; (7)
Protecting Product and Packaging Designs in China Part I – Trademarks
Like the United States, China offers protection for 2D and 3D designs of products and packaging, which is often known by U.S. consumers and practitioners as “trade dress.” This four-part miniseries of posts provides a birds-eye view of protections available in China for two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) design elements of products or packaging under
Dr. Martens Kicks Infringers to the Curb
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently determined that the owner of the iconic Dr. Martens trade dress—a famous design that has been used for more than three decades—was entitled to a permanent injunction against ITX USA for its use of footwear designs that are similar to the overall visual impression of the Dr. Martens trade dress.
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