Sarah Bro
Subscribe to Sarah Bro's PostsSarah Bro is the office managing partner for the Firm’s Orange County office. She focuses her practice on trademark prosecution, enforcement and brand portfolio management, as well as licensing, due diligence, copyright, right of publicity and domain name matters. Read Sarah Bro's full bio.
Burst That Bubble: Specific Knowledge Necessary to Prove Contributory Trademark Infringement
By Sarah Bro and Kathleen Lynch on Aug 3, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed contributory trademark infringement for the first time, finding that specific knowledge is required for liability to attach. Y.Y.G.M. SA, DBA Brandy Melville v. Redbubble, Inc., Case Nos. 21-56150; -56236 (9th Cir. July 24, 2023) (Callahan, Nelson, Thomas, JJ.) Brandy Melville manufactures clothing and home goods...
Continue Reading
“TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Decision Heads to Supreme Court
By Sarah Bro on Jun 15, 2023
Posted In Cert Alert, Trademarks
The Supreme Court agreed to review the US Patent & Trademark Office’s (PTO) challenge to a February 2022 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the ruling at issue, the Federal Circuit held that applying Sec. 2(c) of the Lanham Act (which bars registration of a trademark that consists of...
Continue Reading
Nitpicking Allowed When Determining Statutory Damages
By Sarah Bro on Apr 13, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
On the second round of a copyright dispute, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded (again) to the district court to apply the “independent economic value test” handed down by the Court in the first iteration of the dispute to determine what constitutes as “one...
Continue Reading
The Fondues and Don’ts of Certification Marks
By Sarah Bro on Mar 16, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment grant in favor of the opposers of a certification mark application for the trademark GRUYERE to designate cheese that originates in the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France. The Court found that the term “gruyere” is generic because consumers of cheese understand...
Continue Reading
2023 IP Outlook: What to Watch in Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law
By Sarah Bro, Douglas Carsten, Syed K. Fareed, Mandy H. Kim, Charles Larsen, Christina (Tina) L. Martini, Jennifer M. Mikulina, Amol Parikh, Eleanor B. Atkins, Cecilia Choy, Ph.D., Anisa Noorassa, Alexander Piala, PhD, Joshua Revilla, Christian Tatum and Diana Pisani on Feb 7, 2023
Posted In Copyrights, EU Update, Life Sciences, Patents, Technology, Trademarks
Coming out of 2022, developments around the globe are shaping the intellectual property (IP) landscape in the new year. We are seeing cases at the intersection of IP law and NFTs, the opening of the Unified Patent Court in Europe, and decisions from the Supreme Court of the United States and the Court of Appeals...
Continue Reading
After Supreme Court Remand, Copyright Infringement Claims Upheld in View of Registrant’s Unknown Inaccuracies
By Sarah Bro on Nov 17, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
In February 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., that lack of either factual or legal knowledge on the part of a copyright holder can excuse an inaccuracy in the holder’s registration under the Copyright Act’s safe-harbor provision, 17 U.S.C. §411(b)(1), which governs the...
Continue Reading
Up in Smoke: TTAB Dismisses E-Cigarette Opposition, Provides Guidance for Effective Evidence and Testimony
By Sarah Bro on Nov 10, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
In a precedential opinion, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) dismissed an opposition filed against an application for registration of a logo mark containing the word “SMOKES,” finding no likelihood of confusion with the opposer’s registered mark SMOK. The Board cited the dissimilarity of the marks and the weakness of the common mark element...
Continue Reading
Oh, Fudge. TTAB Finds Curse Word Fails to Function as Trademark
By Sarah Bro on Sep 8, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) denied registration of several US trademark applications for the mark FUCK, even though the applicant had overcome a prohibition on the registration of “immoral or scandalous” trademarks as a violation of the First Amendment in the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Iancu v. Brunetti. The applicant also had...
Continue Reading
Seal of Disapproval: TTAB Refuses Registration of County Logos
By Sarah Bro on Aug 18, 2022
Posted In Trademarks
The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) issued a precedential decision affirming the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Examining Attorney’s refusal to register two different logo marks filed by southern California’s County of Orange because the marks consisted of and comprised, respectively, an insignia of a municipality. The Board found that a logo adopted...
Continue Reading
A Work of Art? Ninth Circuit Analyzes Foreign Judgments and Fair Use
By Sarah Bro on Jul 21, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit analyzed the fair use doctrine of US copyright law in a dispute for recognition of a 2001 French judgment relating to a finding of copyright infringement of certain photographic works featuring the art of Pablo Picasso. The Court’s analysis ultimately resulted in a reversal of the...
Continue Reading
