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You’re trying to register your trademark and the USPTO asks you for a specimen. No, you’re not suddenly a microbiologist or an avian taxidermist. Instead, you’ve just run afoul of the USPTO’s jargon. (Yes, that is a terrible pun; and no I am not apologizing for it.) A mark owner applying to register a mark […]

What is use in commerce? Why can’t I just register a company name and then license it? Unlike other intellectual property, trademarks are “rights appurtenant”–a fancy way of describing a right that requires some other condition in order to exist. In this case, that condition is the use of the mark in commerce. But why? […]