Banner Witcoff

The U.S. Joins the Hague Agreement By Darrell G. Mottley On February 13, 2015, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that the United States has deposited its instrument of ratification to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) with the World…

R. Gregory Israelsen discusses the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in B&B Hardware v. Hargis and examines the trademark case’s potential outcomes in the January/February 2015 edition of IP Litigator. Please click here to read the article.

THE SUPREME COURT POINTS COURTS TO JURIES ON ISSUE OF TRADEMARK TACKING by Anna L. King On January 21, 2015, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision, affirming the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, holding that trademark tacking is an inquiry that operates from the perspective of an ordinary…

Banner & Witcoff, Helen Hill Minsker receive top ranking in the World Trademark Review 1000 2015 Banner and Witcoff is recognized as a top firm in the 2015 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000, the premier standalone research directory that focuses exclusively on trademark practices and practitioners. Please click here for more details. Helen Hill…

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS DE NOVO REVIEW OF PATENT CLAIM CONSTRUCTION By Shawn P. Gorman and R. Gregory Israelsen On Tuesday, in Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., the Supreme Court reversed long-standing Federal Circuit precedent under which patent claim construction was reviewed wholly de novo. Specifically, the Court held that while part of a…

In this Law360 article, Mr. Dannenberg discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hana Financial v. Hana Bank, in which justices held that whether two trademarks may be tacked for purposes of determining priority is a question for the jury. Please click here to read, “Lawyers Weigh in on High Court Trademark Tacking Ruling.”

Katie L. Becker, Matthew P. Becker, Joseph J. Berghammer, Scott A. Burow, Marc S. Cooperman, Louis DiSanto, Katie Laatsch Fink, Shawn P. Gorman, Michael J. Harris, Kevin C. Keenan, Michael L. Krashin, Erik S. Maurer, Timothy C. Meece, Janice V. Mitrius, Jon O. Nelson, Binal J. Patel, Thomas K. Pratt, Timothy J. Rechtien, Christopher J.…

Mr. Spehlmann discusses how to effectively protect a biodiesel process or product technology in the January/February 2015 issue of Biodiesel Magazine. Please click here to read “Patenting Strategies in the Biodiesel Industry.”