A longhorn head and an orange storefront have put a Corpus Christi butcher shop across the courtroom from the University of Texas. On July 29, 2026, the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System sued Staples Street Meat Market and owner Michael Meehan in the US District Court for the Southern District of … Read more
A seven-ounce coffee can and a sixteen-ounce energy drink have carried a five-year naming dispute to the Supreme Court. The justices will decide who gets to determine how strong the RISE mark is before the rest of the confusion analysis begins. How a Beverage Naming Fight Reached the Supreme Court On June 29, 2026, the … Read more
A single diagonal stroke now sits at the center of a 31-page federal complaint between two AI companies that also buy and sell services from each other. I see the dispute as a warning about how much legal and commercial weight a compact logo can carry once the company name disappears. Anthropic Takes The Slash … Read more
Sixty-eight days after Perdue announced its limited-edition 6 7 Chicken Nuggets, the company filed a federal trademark and trade-dress lawsuit over a rival product. The parties agreed to settle less than a month later, leaving the package designs, three pending USPTO applications, and the speed of the conflict as the clearest practical record. The Freezer-Aisle … Read more
An Air Max 95 wrapped in orange, green, and red appeared on Nike’s launch calendar for July 11, 2026. The product copy sent buyers to a corner shop for a quick snack. Ten days before the scheduled drop, 7-Eleven filed a federal trademark lawsuit. I practice trademark law in California, and the filing shows how … Read more
Caleb Williams did more than roll out a nickname. His company filed a six-class federal trademark application for ICEMAN, and the USPTO responded with a June 24, 2026 non-final Office Action before the brand could reach registration. The filing moved the nickname from brand rollout into federal examination, where the USPTO measures it against older … Read more
Trademark disputes can run for decades, but many of them turn on moments that happened long before anyone filed a lawsuit. Bacardi’s latest loss in the HAVANA CLUB fight came down to a renewal payment submitted in December 2005, a Treasury Department license issued in January 2016, and whether those two events could be treated … Read more
On June 3, Allie Mitrovich told followers that HOT GIRLS READ was officially registered. By June 8, People reported that she said the trademark was being surrendered and that the paperwork had been filed. When I checked the USPTO record for serial number 98719017 on June 15, the registration still showed as live with a … Read more
A Dearborn animal shelter had city approvals, vendor paperwork, shirts, sponsors, and a June 13 fundraiser on the calendar before a trademark warning pushed the event from Pawchella to Pawfest. The pattern I see is a catchy event name becoming expensive to change after it has already been promoted, permitted, and printed. The Shelter Changed … Read more
Two Philadelphia wine schools fought over the simple name PHILLY WINE SCHOOL. The late-May federal ruling shows how a local service name can become powerful, expensive, and fragile when trademark registration, social-media handles, Google listings, and proof of real marketplace use all collide. A Wine-School Name Fight Moves From Instagram To Federal Court The dispute … Read more
Groq Health reached settlement territory after a federal judge found enough factual disputes about AI, health apps, domain searches, and affiliation confusion to keep the trademark case moving toward trial. A Settlement After The Case Survived Summary Judgment On May 18, 2026, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil received a letter saying the parties in Groq, Inc. … Read more
FKA Twigs built a global music career around a name that was meant to separate her from an older act. The counterclaims now pending in federal court show the harder lesson: a modified name can still carry the old conflict with it, and fame can make that conflict larger instead of easier to solve. The … Read more
Columbia University tried to move a trademark fight over school merchandise out of Oregon. On May 1, 2026, a federal judge said the case stays there, at least for now, because online sales of allegedly noncompliant apparel into Portland were enough to keep Columbia Sportswear’s claims alive in its home forum. The Fight Over One … Read more
TAS Rights Management, LLC filed three USPTO trademark applications for Taylor Swift on April 24, 2026: two spoken greetings and a stage image. They remain applications, but they show how AI imitation is pushing celebrity-brand protection toward trademark filings alongside publicity-rights claims. Taylor Swift’s Filings Turn A Deepfake Problem Into A Trademark Question TAS Rights … Read more
McDonald’s spent 30 years building “Extra Value Meal” into one of the most recognized menu brands in fast food history. On April 14, 2026, the USPTO told them the phrase is just a description of cheap food. The refusal landed on Serial #99298328, an application McDonald’s filed in July 2025 as the company prepared to … Read more
An heirloom bean company with 30,000 members and 35,370 people on a waitlist is sending cease-and-desist letters to tiny competitors over two common words: “bean club.” The letter arrived with a disarming opener: “Hello Fellow Bean Lover!” Behind the friendly greeting from Crown, LLP was a legal demand to stop using “bean club” in all … Read more