What Are the Most Important Developments in U.S. Trademark Law?

January 17, 2012
Michael Atkins

I’ve got a fantastic opportunity coming up.

In February, I’m going to Guangzhou, China, with Chief Judge Randall Rader of the Federal Circuit and Washington, D.C., attorney Michael Remington to help train 200 Chinese judges at the National Judges College in new developments in U.S. intellectual property law. Chief Judge Rader’s got patent law, Mr. Remington has copyright law, and I’m covering trademark law.

So, trademark developments have been more on my mind than usual.

And this begs the question: what are the hot trends in trademark law?

Here’s what I’m chewing on:

• The proposed PROTECT-IP Act (Senate) and SOPA (House) bills aimed at stopping the importation and sale of counterfeit goods through foreign Web sites, and the downsides of each.
• Trademark bullying — over-reaching brand owners and how angry consumers pay them back.
• Keyword advertising, including which way the wind seems to be blowing in the Rosetta Stone v. Google appeal.
• Liability for online auctioneers following Tiffany v. eBay.
• Rights of publicity, including the Greene v. CMG appeal and how some states confer broad rights that likely differ from those recognized in China.

What am I missing? What would you want Chinese judges to know about?

Article originally appeared on Michael Atkins (http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/).