28 Jul’20

USPTO v. Booking.com: Acquired Distinctiveness of a Generic Domain

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The Supreme Court (“Court”) in USPTO v. Booking.com resolved a dispute about whether a generic name can become eligible for federal trademark registration though the addition of an internet-domain-name suffix such as “.com.” The USPTO rejected applications by travel-reservation website Booking.com seeking federal registration of marks including the term “Booking.com.” The USPTO concluded that “Booking.com” […]

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26 Apr’19

When a Stick Becomes a Carrot: How Toyota’s Royalty-Free Patent Move Impacts The Valuation of Its IP Portfolio

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Toyota has recently announced (April 2019) that it will grant royalty-free licenses on nearly 24,000 patents related to its hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) market. In the announcement, Toyota stated that its goals were to promote widespread adoption of electrified vehicles in an effort to help governments, automakers and society at large accomplish goals related to […]

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31 Jul’18

Preventing Brand Value from Going Up in Flames

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A brand can be one of a company’s most valuable assets. As written in a previous post, the value of a brand has the potential to cover millions of dollars in debt and fees during liquidation events, and can even represent values greater than 100% of a company’s publicly reported asset values. Traditionally, the value […]

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