America-Israel Patent Law

End of the Yosemite Trademarks Saga, And A New One From That Know-Nothing Party School

On August 6 DNC assigned 31 marks associated with Yosemite National Park to Yosemite Hospitality LLC, which is the subsidiary of Aramark that now runs the concessions at YNP.  These presumably will be assigned back to National Parks Service when Aramark’s concession ends in 2031 or thereabouts.  Thus comes to a conclusion DNC’s attempt to steal from the American public the names of iconic sites (or at least steal the ability of the NPS, via an agent, to emblazon those names on shirts and caps and coffee mugs).

But trademark trolls are never far from the trough, and the newest one comes from Columbus, Ohio, in the form of Ohio State University.  Or as it likes to refer to itself, The Ohio State University.  Because, I guess, people might confuse it with some other Ohio State University.  On August 8, OSU filed TM application no. 88571984, for the word “THE” on t-shirts, baseball caps and hats.  The attorney of record is a Samantha Quimby, hopefully no relation to Diamond Joe Quimby. 

The application asserts the “mark” was first used in commerce in August 2005.  I seem to think I might have seen that word “The” on t-shirts before 2005. But I could be wrong. And anyway, with trademarks it's distinctiveness that's the name of the game, right? I’m sure it will be a cinch to demonstrate that when people see the word “The” on a t-shirt, they automatically think of The Ohio State University. What else could they possibly think of?

The response from the University of Michigan on twitter was an instant classic (h/t to Aaron Feigelson for this one):

But I don’t think U of M will be trying to register “OF” as a mark.

As Detroit radio personality Dick Purtan sang of OSU in my childhood, “It’s a know-nothing party school!”

Keep Your Eye On The Ball - joint program of AIPLA/IDC, September 23 - registration is open

Subject matter eligibility under 35 USC §101, and the requirements for compliance with the written description and enablement requirements of 35 USC §112, have been areas of rapid legal development for several years. Unfortunately, these areas remain in flux: in the past year, the USPTO has issued new §101 and §112 guidance, with more expected by the end of the summer; the Patent Trial and Appeal Board continues to turn out decisions that affect USPTO policy in these areas; the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit seems to vacillate in its rulings; and Congress is now considering new legislation that would affect not only §101 but the scope of PTAB review. 

The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the Zvi Meitar Institute of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) invite patent practitioners, inventors and other interested individuals to a half-day session in which these topics will be discussed, along with a brief update on the state of obviousness-type double-patenting.  Presenters will be experienced US practitioners representing different disciplines, including Kevin Noonan (McDonnell Boehnen), Daniel Sherwinter (Kilpatrick Stockton), Aaron Feigelson (Leydig Voit & Mayer), David Postolski (Gearhart Law), William Mandir (Sughrue Mion), and yours truly.

The cost of the program will be 190 shekels, and participants must register in advance. 

Register online at https://www.eventer.co.il/aiplaconference.

Download AIPLA inv_6

 

 

Inventing Merit Badge

My brothers and I were active in the Boy Scouts of America in our youth, our father was active both in his youth and then later through much of his adult life, and our maternal grandfather, like the three of us and our father, was also an Eagle Scout in his day (1924). 

One of the distinguishing features of scouting is the merit badge program: among the requirements for advancement to Eagle, scouts must earn merit badges in a variety of different areas.  Some, like camping, hiking, swimming, first aid and citizenship have been around pretty much since the inception of the BSA, and are required for advancement; others, like dentistry, electricity, fishing, forestry, public speaking, salesmanship and truck transportation are elective.  By earning merit badges, scouts learn about fields of knowledge and occupations to which they might not otherwise have been exposed.  (For me that included visiting a local dairy farm while earning one particular merit badge).

The number of merit badge offerings has grown from 57 in 1911 to 137 today (a complete list, with requirements, can be found here), and in addition to periodically updating the requirements for each merit badge, from time to time the BSA retires some merit badges and introduces new ones.  Hence today, one can earn merit badges in composite materials, digital technology, game design, geocaching, nuclear science, robotics, and sustainability, none of which were offered when I was a scout.

I recently learned that, back in 1911, the BSA offered an invention merit badge (h/t to Roy More).  According to a recent Scouting Magazine blog post, this was the least-earned merit badge ever, with only 10 scouts qualifying.  And it’s not hard to understand why, when one reads the requirements:

1. Invent and patent some useful article;
2. Show a working drawing or model of the same.

I’m not sure if patenting a useful article was easier or harder to do in 1911 than it is today, but then as now it was certainly a more expensive undertaking than the average scout could afford. And that was without nine robed English majors saying with straight faces that something tangible is nevertheless abstract.  Unsurprisingly in retrospect, the merit badge was discontinued in 1914.

Equally unsurprising in retrospect (maybe I should become a patent examiner, this hindsight stuff is easy), in 2010 an inventing merit badge was introduced, with help from the Lemelson-MIT program.  The requirements for this merit badge are more sensible than its predecessor, and include things like:

1. In your own words, define inventing. Then do the following: a. Explain to your merit badge counselor the role of inventors and their inventions in the economic development of the United States. b. List three inventions and state how they have helped humankind.

and

3.c. Examine your Scouting gear and find a patent number on a camping item you have used. With your parent’s permission, use the Internet to find out more about that patent. Compare the finished item with the claims and drawings in the patent. Report what you learned to your counselor.

Hey, I did that one with this blog post!...although I didn't get my parents' permission before checking out the patents online...

As someone who had heard of patents when he was young – our grandfather had a few to his name, and when I was around 10 years old gave me a book of silly inventions taken from the USPTO’s collection – but didn’t really appreciate their importance until much later, I’m glad to see that the BSA is encouraging today’s youth to learn about patents.