Introducing: TrademarkJoy

Hello! I used to keep my legal blog separate from my personal blog, but this year, I've decided to combine them. In addition to my normal postings about art, movies, and books, I'll be posting some legal tips and legal stories I find fascinating.

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On my previous blog, TrademarkJoy, I would do article round-ups. Here are some my favorite articles I spotlighted:

• "Trademark Office Issues New Guidelines for Generic Trademarks" by me for Trademark Elite

  • Spoilers: if applying for word.domain brand names, it is important to show that consumers understand that name as a brand. These filings can be very time-intensive and I suggest working with an experienced attorney on these filings.

    
    

• "Buckingham Palace Told A "Trump Train" Bus To Stop Using The Queen's Image" by Ellie Hall from Buzzfeed News

  • Spoilers: The individual did remove the image of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a MAGA hat

    
    

• "Why attorneys should stop underlying in printed documents" by Matthew Butterick

  • Spoilers: Lawyers use typography styles meant for typewriters, not because it makes the documents easier to read.

    
    

• "The First Pillar of Online Brand Control? Channel Management" by Daren Garcia for The Fashion Law

  • Spoilers: Brands should focus on their logistics. Generally, the people who hurt us aren't strangers and this applies to trademarks too - the person whose mostly likely to steal your brand is someone you've done business with so that's where enforcement needs to start.

    
    

  

• "Why This Movie Perfectly Re-Created a Picasso, Destroyed It, and Mailed the Evidence to Picasso’s Estate" by Katie Calautti for Vanity Fair

  • Spoilers: In the biographical movie about Jackson Pollack, the filmmakers obtained a license from Pollack's estate to make reproductions for the movie. Movies have different licenses, often requiring the movie studio to destroy the copies.

• "Blockchain in the Courts" by Daniel J. Neally for Karjala Memorial Workshop

  • Spoilers: The USA government uses blockchain.

    
    

• The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds" by Chris Heath for The Atlantic

  • Spoilers: It was a mix of brushing scam and people forgetting their purchases. From the US Postal Inspectors, a "brushing scam" is a scheme or sending people unsolicited packages to boost online e-commerce rankings. The most famous case was people receiving seeds in 2020, which was likely motivated by third-party sellers trying to boost rankings with Amazon. This is loosely related to trademark law as third-party sellers on Amazon are one of the largest filing groups for US trademarks.

    
    

• "The Essential Guide to Food Safe 3D Printing" by FormLabs

  • Spoilers: 3-D printed items are usually not safe for food