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TwiceHorn

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Everything posted by TwiceHorn

  1. Adults. In. Charge.
  2. Well, if you believe what some people are saying, maybe a lot of people, OSU was giving away the run. I share your concern.
  3. Yes. AKA ETSU.
  4. Under the new regime, all touchdowns henceforth will be scored by white guys. Executive Order.
  5. Didn't get the message, didja?
  6. Non-DEI tuddy.
  7. DEI TD. Foiled by a white guy. Rufo approved.
  8. Baby steps. I'll take it.
  9. Yeah, that was the one good takeaway from OSU, but he was still rushing throws.
  10. Chris Rufo approves.
  11. Jaggy! Again.
  12. Jaggy! @closetojumping
  13. Well, that and he was shocked to get a catchable ball. And, he sucks.
  14. Gotdamn Wingo.
  15. Um, wow.
  16. Tylenol's manufacturer, Kenvue, is independent of J&J. But it is a hugely valid point that it should have been referred to as acetominophen.
  17. I have no real opinion on Luck, but will take your word for it. If you're a fan, are you aware of this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capt._Andrew_Luck One of the more amusing things to come from the shithole that is xitter.
  18. Ugh that sucks. It is probably also "inconstestible" if more than five years old, which makes it harder to take away from them. But genericness remains one of the grounds to do so even for an incontestible registration. It's just a bitch to prove.
  19. The point was the shame part. And, I don't think anyone's ever going to cross the goal line on this issue. We can at least bring back the shame.
  20. Probably me. I talk about it more than most. Twenty-five years ago, patent attorneys did the lion's share of trademark work. That's no longer true. People without the requisite technical background to be patent attorneys have taken over the field, mostly, in big firms. And quite a few patent lawyers do trademarks exclusively, like everyone except Goetzel mentioned above. FWIW, all of the above are at least UT Law grads, most UT undergrads. Also, I'll add a couple of references. Jeff McDaniel, who may be mostly retired. https://profiles.superlawyers.com/texas/austin/lawfirm/law-office-of-jeff-a-mcdaniel/de024bf8-b00b-4eeb-a8df-d5adbf770fdb.html And a small firm heavy hitter in Dallas, Molly Richard. https://richardlawgroup.com/professionals/molly-buck-richard/ Amusing story about Molly. She joined a patent boutique in Dallas when patents were almost entirely a man's game. I think she was the first woman they had ever hired. They more seriously than they should have joked about listing her on the letterhead as M. Buck Richard.
  21. Now it's sounding like the term or phrase is flat generic. Do they claim a federal registration? If they do not, they may not be that serious and a good solid response can maybe back them down.
  22. Well, I'd just probably capitulate then. If it's not your central brand, who cares. But, in addition to it being difficult to claim rights in geographically and otherwise descriptive marks, like "Texas Electric," people like you also have the right even to use registered trademarks in their descriptive sense. We can all call "Johnson's Baby Shampoo" that, even if it's trademarked. It's called "descriptive fair use." In-house lawyers only reduce the cost of letter-writing. It also means they're not that serious, yet. If they're going to big-time bully, or sue, or be sued, they're hiring outside counsel. So, you may have some chance of getting them to back down with a couple of letters back and forth.
  23. Ok, I'm getting old enough that I can't think up any good small-firm trademark practitioners in H-town anymore. They're all in biglaw now. Unless you have a strong preference for "face time" with your attorneys, Austin would be fine, or Dallas even. So, for big-time, I recommend Pirkey Barber, specifically probably Rodney Caldwell or Mike Mettauer, or Jeff Becker at Haynes and Boone in Dallas. For smaller and competent, these guys in Austin, probably specifically Dwayne Goetzel. https://www.intprop.com/ Ultimately, you'll be dealing with someone junior, but their supervisor can make a difference.
  24. Yeah, pretty unlikely. If they have a federal registration, one of the more aggressive tactics would be to petition to cancel their registration. Or, if they don't have a registration, apply for one yourself and then put the burden on them to initiate proceedings at the trademark office to keep you from getting the registration. That's one way to relatively inexpensively raise the stakes for them and maybe put the dispute in a forum, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, that costs thens or hundreds of thousands, instead of several hundred thousand or more in a federal district court. So, if the bully is dedicated and committed, they can probably attrition you into changing your name. One strategery is to get them to pay the costs of your rebranding, which will be a fraction of the cost of litigating.
  25. Houston, right? What's your budget? Do you want a heavy hitter to respond or just someone good? There may be value in a heavy hitter against a big outfit, in which case Pirkey Barber is probably your no-brainer choice. You are correct that the type of mark you're describing is called "geographically descriptive," because it describes the place of origin of the goods and services provided, if not the goods and services themselves. These marks are initially unprotectable as trademarks. However, with long-term use and promotion of a geographically descriptive mark, it is capable of being registered. Do they claim a federal trademark registration? The biggest problem here is the financial disparity, if any. Trademark disputes are impossible to resolve judicially without trial, most of the time. So a bully can keep you spending on litigation way beyond any point that makes any sense. Of course, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them, either.
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