IP UPDATE

No Fairytale Ending for Consumer Opposition: RAPUNZEL Reinforces Lexmark Standing Limits

by Hannah Hurley | May 29, 2025 | Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s dismissal of a trademark opposition brought by a consumer, holding that mere consumer interest is insufficient to establish standing under Section 13 of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1063). The ruling reinforced the application of the Supreme Court’s Lexmark (2014) framework to administrative trademark proceedings and clarified that only parties with commercial interest fall within the “zone of interests” protected by the statute when challenging a mark. Curtin v. United Trademark Holdings, Inc., Case No. 23-2140 (Fed. Cir. May 22, 2025) (Taranto, Hughes, JJ.; Barnett, Distr. J., sitting by designation.)

United Trademark Holdings (UTH) applied to register the mark RAPUNZEL for dolls and toy figures. Rebecca Curtin, a law professor, doll collector, and mother, opposed the registration, arguing that “Rapunzel” is a generic or descriptive term and its registration would harm consumers by reducing competition and increasing prices for fairytale-themed dolls.

The Board dismissed Curtin’s opposition, concluding she lacked standing to oppose under § 1063. The Board applied the Lexmark framework, which requires a showing that the opposer’s interests fall within the zone of interests protected by the statute and that the alleged injury is proximately caused by the registration. The Board found that Curtin, as a consumer, failed both prongs. Curtin appealed.

Curtin argued she had statutory entitlement under the 1999 Federal Circuit decision in Ritchie v. Simpson, “a case that addressed a section of the Trademark Act barring registration of ‘immoral’ or ‘scandalous’ matter.”

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Board, holding that the Lexmark framework applied rather than Ritchie. The Court explained that while the Lanham Act may indirectly benefit consumers, the statutory cause of action is reserved for those with commercial interest. Since Curtin’s opposition was based on claims that the mark was generic, descriptive, or failed to function as a mark, her interest as a consumer did not fall within the zone of interests protected by the statute.

The Federal Circuit also found that Curtin’s alleged injuries, namely reduced marketplace competition, increased prices, and diminished access to diverse interpretations of the Rapunzel character, were too speculative and derivative of harm that might be suffered by commercial competitors. The Court reiterated that injuries must be direct and not merely downstream effects of harm to others. Curtin’s submission of a petition with more than 400 signatures from like-minded consumers did not alter the Court’s conclusion that her alleged harm was too remote to satisfy the proximate cause requirement.

Practice Note: The Federal Circuit’s decision reinforces that only parties with direct commercial stakes, such as competitors or potential market entrants, have standing to oppose trademark registrations on grounds such as genericness, descriptiveness, or fraudulence.

News From Across the Pond: UK+ Regime Now Permanent

by Dr. Henrik Holzapfel and Dr. Laura Katharina Woll, LL.M. | May 29, 2025 | EU Update

In 2021, shortly after Brexit became effective, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) established the “UK+ regime” on the exhaustion of intellectual property (IP) rights with regard to the European Economic Area (EEA). After consultations with stakeholders, the UK IPO announced that this regime will be permanent.

IP rights are exhausted throughout the European Union when the IP owner or its licensee places goods in commerce anywhere in the EU. Post-Brexit, the United Kingdom became a third state, meaning that there was no exhaustion when goods were put on the UK market, then exported to the EEA. Similarly, there was no exhaustion when goods were put on the EU market, then exported to the UK. To address the latter issue, the UK unilaterally implemented the UK+ regime, which was initially planned as an interim solution. The UK+ regime ensured that, from a UK perspective, IP rights were still considered exhausted when goods were placed on the EU market and subsequently resold in the UK. Once a product had been legitimately sold in the EEA, the IP owner could not prevent its resale in the UK with reference to its IP rights. Thus, relevant goods could continue to be parallel traded into the UK, which ensured continued access to products for consumers, as UK businesses could continue to buy from EU suppliers and resell in the UK without needing permission from the IP owner.

Now that the UK+ regime is permanent, an exhaustion regime persists that is asymmetric. From the EU’s point of view, the UK is still a third state, so IP rights are not exhausted in the EEA when relevant goods are sold in the UK and subsequently exported to the EEA. Therefore, the IP owner can continue to prevent the product from being resold in any EEA state with reference to its IP rights and the lack of exhaustion, even if the product was originally sold in the UK by the IP owner itself or by its licensee. When goods are legitimately sold in the EEA and subsequently exported to the UK, however, exhaustion will occur.

Guiding the Fight Against Fakes: PTO Opens Public Comment Period

by Keval Amin | May 29, 2025 | Uncategorized

The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a notice inviting feedback from intellectual property rights holders and online marketplaces regarding proposed voluntary guidelines aimed at curbing the sale of counterfeit goods on online marketplaces. 90 Fed. Reg. 21291 (May 19, 2025). Public comments will be accepted through June 27, 2025.

The PTO will also hold a public hearing in Washington, DC, on June 5, 2025, to solicit feedback on newly drafted guidelines, which were developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and focus on key enforcement areas, including repeat infringers, international cooperation, transparency, public awareness, sanctions, and market surveillance. The PTO emphasized that it is working with both government and private sector partners to strengthen efforts against counterfeiting, which has become increasingly prevalent in e-commerce.

According to a recent report by the OECD and the EU Intellectual Property Office, the global trade in counterfeit goods reached $467 billion in 2021, with apparel, footwear, and leather goods constituting the most-seized items. The report identified China and Hong Kong as the top sources of counterfeit products.

The OECD’s anticounterfeiting initiative follows a three-phase approach:

Defining the scope of the problem and outlining a strategic response
Developing voluntary guidelines to combat illicit trade
Facilitating global dialogue among public and private stakeholders to refine and implement best practices

The PTO’s June 5 hearing marks the start of the OECD’s third phase: facilitating dialogue between public and private stakeholders. Additional hearings will be held in other countries as part of this global effort.

The hearing comes on the heels of high-profile enforcement efforts, including a recent federal court order in Illinois that extended a freeze on assets linked to overseas sellers accused of distributing counterfeit National Basketball Association merchandise.

The PTO hopes the hearing will help refine the proposed best practices and identify remaining gaps, as policymakers and industry leaders work together to combat the growing threat of illicit online trade.

It’s a Matter of Timing: The PTO’s Latest Decisions on Discretionary Denials

by Sarah Mezini | May 29, 2025 | Patents

Since the US Patent & Trademark Office’s (PTO) decision to rescind former Director Vidal’s memo on procedures for post-grant proceedings where there is parallel district court litigation, Current Acting Director Coke Morgan has issued four decisions regarding requests for discretionary denials:

Twitch Interactive, Inc. v. Razdog Holdings LLC, IPR2025-00307; 00308, Paper 18 (P.T.A.B. May 16, 2025)
Amazon.com v. NL Giken, Inc., IPR2025-00250; 00407, Paper 14 (P.T.A.B. May 16, 2025)
Arm Ltd. and Mediatek, Inc. v. Daedalus Prime LLC, IPR2025-00207, Paper 10 (P.T.A.B. May 16, 2025)
Ericsson and Verizon Wireless v. Procomm International, IPR2024-01455, Paper 15 (P.T.A.B. May 16, 2025).

The Director ultimately granted two of the requests and denied the other two.

In Twitch Interactive v. Razdog Holdings LLC, the PTO denied the patent owner’s request for discretionary denial. The parallel district court proceeding did not have a scheduled trial date, and the projected trial date was far beyond the PTO’s final written decision date. The petitioner also provided statistical evidence that the district court would likely issue a stay for the pending inter partes review (IPR) proceeding. Therefore, based on a holistic assessment of the evidence presented, the PTO denied the request for discretionary denial.

In Amazon.com v. NL Giken, Inc, the PTO similarly denied the patent owner’s request for discretionary denial. Here, the issue date for the PTO’s final written decision fell before the parallel district court trial date. The abundance of time between the dates ultimately led to the PTO’s denial.

In contrast, in Arm Ltd. and Mediatek, Inc. v. Daedalus Prime LLC, the PTO granted the patent owner’s request for discretionary denial. The PTO highlighted that it was unlikely that its final written decision would be issued before the start of the district court trial. There also was a lack of probative evidence that the district court would issue a stay if an IPR proceeding was instituted.

Finally, in Ericsson and Verizon Wireless v. Procomm International, the PTO granted the patent owner’s request for discretionary denial. The PTO found that the district court trial would conclude before a final written decision was issued in the IPR proceedings, because the trial date preceded the final written decision date by nine months. Moreover, there was no evidence to support any contention that the district court would issue a stay.

Practice Note: These four decisions emphasize the importance of timing between post-grant proceedings and parallel district court litigation. The PTO is more likely to grant discretionary denial if the final written decision of the post-grant proceeding is issued after the trial concludes in the parallel district court action. If a final written decision is likely to be issued before the trial begins in the parallel proceeding, the PTO is more likely to deny a request for a discretionary denial.

Stylish but Generic: ‘VETEMENTS’ Can’t Dress Up as Trademark

by Sarah Bro | May 29, 2025 | Trademarks

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s refusal to register the mark VETEMENTS for clothing and related retail services, finding that the mark was generic under the doctrine of foreign equivalents. In re Vetements Group AG, Case Nos. 2023-2050; -2051 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2025) (Prost, Wallach, Chen, JJ.)

Vetements Group AG applied to register the mark VETEMENTS for various clothing items and online retail store services for clothing items. The US Patent & Trademark Office refused registration, finding the mark generic or, in the alternative, merely descriptive without acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(e)(1) of the Lanham Act. The Board affirmed, applying the doctrine of foreign equivalents to translate “vetements” (French for “clothing”) and concluding that the term was generic for the applied-for goods and services pertaining to clothing. Vetements Group appealed.

The doctrine of foreign equivalents is used to evaluate whether a non-English trademark is generic or descriptive for the applied-for goods or services by translating the foreign-language mark into English, then applying the relevant legal tests. The Federal Circuit affirmed that the doctrine applies when the “ordinary American purchaser” would likely “stop and translate” the foreign word into English. The “ordinary American purchaser” includes all US consumers, including those familiar with the foreign language.

The Federal Circuit emphasized that words from modern languages are generally translated unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. It rejected Vetements’ argument that the doctrine should only apply if a majority of US consumers understand the foreign word. Instead, the Court held that it is sufficient if an “appreciable number” of US consumers would recognize and translate the term.

In this case, the Federal Circuit found that French is widely spoken and taught in the United States (the Board found that as of 2010, French was the fifth most spoken non-English language at home and the second most widely taught non-English language in US schools). The Court thus concluded that “vetements” is a common French word meaning “clothing,” and that given the mark’s use on apparel and in connection with clothing-related retail services, translation of the term into English was likely.

Under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, foreign terms used as trademarks are translated into English, then evaluated under the applicable standards, including genericness, descriptiveness, and likelihood of confusion. In assessing whether a term is generic, courts apply a two-part test: identifying the genus of goods or services at issue, and determining whether the relevant public understands the term primarily to refer to that genus.

Here, the genus was clothing and online retail services for clothing. The Federal Circuit agreed with the Board that “vetements,” once translated to “clothing,” directly named the genus of the goods and services. Therefore, the term was generic and ineligible for trademark protection.

Because the mark was found to be generic, the Federal Circuit explained that it did not have to reach the Board’s alternative holding that the VETEMENTS mark was merely descriptive without acquired distinctiveness [...]

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