Professor Hugh C. Hansen authored a blog post on the recent Supreme Court opinion Matal v. Tam for SCOTUSblog.com. The Court’s judgment on the trademark “Slants” case was announced on June 19th, 2017. Professor Hansen argues that the case is one of the most important First Amendment free speech cases to come along in many years […]
Last June, in Converse v. ITC, the International Trade Commission (ITC) found that Wal-Mart, Skechers, and New Balance, among others, could copy an athletic shoe design – Converse’s Chuck Taylor – because it lacked “secondary meaning” to consumers, and therefore failed to qualify for trade dress protection under the Lanham Act. In trademark law, secondary […]
On February 3, 2017, Prof. Hugh C. Hansen joined an amicus curiae brief submitted by 11 Law Professors in support of the appellant, Converse, in Converse v. ITC, 2016-2497 (Fed. Cir.). The appeal concerns the ITC’s invalidation of Converse’s registered trademark in the mid-sole of its iconic Chuck Taylor All-Star shoe, and that further there was insufficient […]
On December 16, Professor Hugh C. Hansen submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of Respondent, Simon Tam, in the case Lee v. Tam (15-1293), which is currently before the Supreme Court of the United States. Prof. Hansen’s brief employs a legal realist perspective to advise the Court on important considerations relevant to both First […]
Over the past year, Sven Schonhofen has been prolific in publishing a series of articles for the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Policy (JIPLP). Following his graduation from Fordham’s LLM program in May 2015, Sven returned to Germany where he is an Associate in the Media, Technology & Telecommunications Practice Group at Olswang LLP while […]
On May 21, Assistant Director Zachary Slates served as a panelist at INTA‘s 138th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. The panel was entitled “Careers in Trademark” and was primarily aimed at offering law students who are interested in trademark practice a glimpse into the career options available as well as pathways to entering the field […]
On November 5, Prof. Hugh C. Hansen joined an amici curiae brief submitted by eighteen constitutional law professors in support of the plaintiff in the case Pro-Football, Inc. v. Blackhorse, 15-1874 (4th Cir.). The case concerns Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act’s prohibition against disparaging trademarks and whether that section is an abridgment of the […]
In June, Prof. Hansen filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court, which had taken an appeal from the Federal Circuit’s decision in In re: Simon Shiao Tam (April 20, 2015). The case presented the issue of whether the TTAB erred in refusing to register the trademark of Mr. Tam’s band, THE SLANTS, on grounds […]
From time to time, a firm will retire its logo and replace it with a newer version. This prompted us to wonder: why would a company, whose logo is instantly recognizable, want to make this change? To answer the question, we might have conducted a little informal research, ferreted out the company’s graphic aspirations, […]
In June, Prof. Hansen filed an amicus brief in the sua sponte hearing en banc ordered by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in In re: Simon Shiao Tam. The hearing followed from the Federal Circuit panel decision taken on appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). The case presented the […]
On March 25, 2015, Prof. Hugh Hansen participated in a Twitter Q&A organized by Managing Intellectual Property magazine. The Storify below captures highlights from the Q&A. [View the story “Twitter Q&A with Professor Hugh Hansen” on Storify]
On Friday, November 14, 2014, the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal (IPLJ), in conjunction with the Fordham Intellectual Property Law Institute, presented a series of panel discussions on recent developments across IP practice areas at Fordham Law School. Program Agenda: 8:30 – 9:15 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast 9:30 – 11:15 […]
