Rebecca Tushnet

@rtushnet

Trademark, advertising, and more

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Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· 8d

11th Circuit is not particularly convincing in its conclusion that "battery tender" isn't generic, given that it uses the term as the name of the product category multiple times in its decision; next you will tell me that escalators don't actually escalate

the term “battery tender” is best charac-terized as (at least) descriptive. The term itself entails some level of abstraction—“tend[]” is more a metaphorical than literal descrip-tion of what a battery tender does, which is to preserve the battery by maintaining its charge.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· 29d

There's always an unreasonable consumer

An ad from the makers of Cards Against Humanity, offering a box of Bullshit. Ad says: "Literal feces, from an actual bull. Looks, smells, and tastes like shit. Because it is. A Q&A states: Is this actually poop? Answer: Yes. Is it also something that's not poop? Answer: No. Can I return it when I realize that it's actually just poop? Answer: No. And finally a customer email: "The ad was very misleading. I don't want a box of bull feces. Please cancel the order."

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 30

Trademark/advertising law question of the day: draft the complaint by YT, Shopify, etc. www.404media.co/how-i-bought...

“Fake dashboards: Very good for more targeted warping (e.g. if you’re trying to sell a course on a specific business method) or to justify your “lifestyle.” Can be done by photoshopping screenshots or by using dedicated dashboard replicas for added realism (link in bio)”

I think all of these tips are very funny, but this last one really intrigued me. Jordan was advertising a Telegram account called the “Fakify” “Larp marketplace.” Fakify has 9,000 members on Telegram and sells just two products: Software that makes fake YouTube, Shopify, Coinbase, and Fanvue dashboards and a web app that sends your phone fake notifications for Shopify, Stripe, and Whop. This software is not cheap. A fake Shopify dashboard costs $750, a YouTube dashboard costs $550. The notification app costs $100.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 29

At the Mosaic District in Fairfax. Seems much more crowded than the fair downtown

Lots of people at the Mosaic District watching a game

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 29

Finishing up my Bryn Mawr blanket--that was an objectively unreasonable amount of double knitting but it came out well!

A black and yellow blanket with owls, Gothic windows, and two large Bryn Mawr owl-in-lantern logos

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 27

Trademark issue of the day

A sign for a juice store that asks: “why are iPhone chargers not called apple juice?”

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 27

The cottage, which made me wonder about Canadian architectural copyright

The cottage set showing a slice of the house

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 26

Looking forward to this!

Sandwich board advertising Heated Rivalry musical parody

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 26

Hmm, I wonder what the state board of tourism thinks of this?

An ad saying "Virginia is for lager lovers TM" in the same style as the "Virginia is for lovers" slogan

The Virginia Is for Lovers image on the official tourism site

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 13

Tom Gault cartoon: Our Blessed Homeland/Their Barbarous Wastes, with our glorious leader/their wicked despot, our great religion/their primitive superstition, our noble populace/their backward savages, and our heroic adventurers/their brutish invaders. The two images are mirrored except for different colored flags.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 12

For readers, CVS and they’re fine! Also some cute ones from a craft show. I have pairs scattered around house and office. Multiple places=less keeping track

Reading glasses with one square frame and one round one

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 12

I'd love to know if there are any applications to register this image as a mark for things that are related to, but not, bike computer brackets. (This is in fact a line drawing of the product inside.)

A bicycle computer bracket box with a line drawing of a bicycle computer bracket

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Jun 7

Can't find anything public on this bit of marketing for Widow's Bay; has Google done "did you mean" takeovers before?

Google search result for Widow's Bay that reads "Did you mean: the next martha's vineyard and definitely not cursed"

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 25

Repost with the Russian agent who spies on your posts.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 23

Steampunk dystopia

Metro car advertising “Steampunk” which claims “disrupting government IT with design intelligence”

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 21

I love the windows at YLS

A stained glass window showing a disapproving judge

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 12

No--and it's worth noting (for anyone reading along without Ed's extensive knowledge) that the PTO sometimes does insist on 2(d) for realistic line drawings--screenshot from my slides, cites in alt text

In re Ronald Bennett and Jacob Fakouri, Serial No. 85485633 (May 13, 2013): mark as a whole was merely descriptive. the degree of stylization in the applied-for mark "is not sufficiently striking, unique, or distinctive so as to create a commercial impression separate and apart from the other components of the mark.“
In re Underwater Connections, Inc., 221 USPQ 95, 96 (TTAB 1983) Descriptive for “travel tour services involving underwater diving”
In re Eight Ball, Inc., 217 USPQ 1183, 1184 (TTAB 1983) (holding mark comprising pictorial representation of cue stick and eight ball merely descriptive of billiard parlor services);
Hangzhou Mengku Technology Co., Ltd and Fuzhou Mengku Technology Co., Ltd v. Shanghai Zhenglang Technology Co., Ltd, Opposition No. 91272143 (December 30, 2024] [precedential] computer game software: the illustration or representation need not be completely accurate, realistic or true-to-life. “[t]he ultimate guideline … is whether the design forthwith conveys an immediate idea of a feature of the goods and lacks any additional fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive matter.”

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 11

I got most of my exams, so of course I finished a scarf & hat set, one of my favorite projects ever, instead of grading

A double-knit puzzle-patterned scarf in shades of blue and yellow-green

A double-knit puzzle-patterned hat in shades of blue

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 5

Pulled the specimen: it was a tag. This is Lettuce Turnip the Beet but with product design. Clearly a big thing these days.

A specimen of a black rug with a tiny tag showing an image of an 8-ball

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· May 1

Post your warning sign

This place is not a place of honor... nothing valued is here.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Apr 19

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Apr 9

Mock epitaph for the Southern Confederacy naming Lincoln as attending physician, Grant as undertaker, and Jeff Davis as chief mourner. It was a product of the week between Lee's surrender and Lincoln's death.
Dated April 9th, 1865

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Apr 9

Reminds me of another claim where the MTD was granted, Grazette v. Bitcoin of America, LLC, 2020 WL 6789352, No. 19-CV-4837 (MKB) (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2020)

Left: a donut with sprinkles and Xs for eyes on top of crossed bones; Right: X and a donut with sprinkles with "Dunkin" along the bottom.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Apr 8

Transformative work of the day, oldie but goodie

Bella from Twilight asks Elmo: how old are you?
Elmo: Elmo is three years old.
Bella: how long have you been three?
Elmo: a while.

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Apr 7

Me when it’s snowing in April

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Mar 28

One of my favorite signs from today’s No Kings

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Mar 26

Barack Obama supports temporary redistricting in Virginia, but Republicans are sending out postcards using his name and an old (correct, but from the days when he thought he could unite us) quote to encourage voting against it + a current quote deceptively shortened.

Postcard "Vote No on Gerrymandering! Protect minority representation" postcard with image of Obama and quote from 2020: "For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government."

"Let voters decide, not politicians" quote from 3/5/26

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Mar 23

(not directed at Orin)

Luke Skywalker: "Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong."

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Mar 21

Spotted in SFO, trademark question of the day, nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster edition

Rebecca Tushnet@rtushnet· Mar 8

Branding: I personally would not drive a truck full of white sheets around Virginia with a prominent "88" on it.