A blue bird is back on the social-media market. During the week of August 24, 2026, a Virginia startup called Operation Bluebird, Inc. opened a browser-based social network at Twitter.now, built around public conversation and carrying the Twitter name. It did this while X Corp., which retired that name in 2023, was still asking a … Read more
A neighborhood convenience store near Dayton now faces a federal trademark lawsuit from one of the country’s best-known travel-center brands. The fight is about more than two cartoon beavers. It asks whether a name, a design, and a shared local market could lead customers to believe two very different businesses are connected. What Buc-ee’s Says … Read more
On August 10, 2026, the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals asked the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to refuse registration of THE W for apparel. Their opposition puts WNBA Enterprises LLC’s pending clothing application alongside earlier W-formative marks that the baseball clubs say cover the same commercial territory. A short phrase can generate a detailed … Read more
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