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We believe it’s important to have backgrounds that provide a strategic advantage to our clients. That’s why our group is comprised of former ad executives, musicians, in-house counsel and litigators who are trained to understand your market, your language, your deadlines, your competition and your need for business-focused legal advice.
With our unique backgrounds and dedicated experience in the business world, our Advertising, Marketing & Trademark (AMT) Group has the comfort level and confidence to provide smart, fast, creative and practical solutions to your branding challenges. We’re uniquely situated to hit the ground running, whether we’re managing an international trademark portfolio or finding creative ways to minimize advertising risk.
We’re not patent or corporate attorneys moonlighting on advertising, trademark and copyright projects. We’re creative thinkers with creative backgrounds who provide clients with a true ally in protecting, enhancing and trouble-shooting your brand assets to provide you with a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Trademark & Copyright
We clear, register, maintain, and protect clients’ trademarks (including trademarks, service marks, and trade dress) and copyrights, and we help them develop and implement creative intellectual property protection and enforcement strategies for maximizing brand value around the globe.
The services we offer clients include:
Advertising & Promotion
We advise and represent advertisers, advertising, direct marketing, and sales promotion agencies, designers, illustrators, photographers, and other creative service businesses of all sizes throughout the country. Many advertising legal principles operate in a gray area, where subjectivity and nuance are crucial. We provide practical assessments and risk mitigation strategies.
The services we offer clients include:
March 7, 2022
Fredrikson & Byron shareholders Lora Friedemann, Cynthia A. Moyer, John Pickerill and Ann Dunn Wessberg have been named to the top band in the 2022 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals (WTR 1000) for Minnesota.
January 3, 2022
Letters of Protest are not new to U.S. trademark practice; yet the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA) provided statutory authority for and refined the existing procedure.
December 7, 2021
The Trademark Modernization Act, enacted in December 2020, provides for shorter response times to respond to examination issues raised by a Trademark Office Examining Attorney
November 23, 2021
What can you do if you have filed a trademark application that was rejected by an Examiner due to a registration that you learn is not in use with some or all of the goods/services identified in the registration?
September 30, 2021
Fredrikson & Byron continues growth in the Des Moines market with the addition of patent attorney Tina G. Yin Sowatzke.
May 24, 2021
The USPTO is launching a Pilot Prioritized Review Program for Appeals Related to COVID-19 where the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) will expedite the review and issuance of ex parte appeal decisions for applications examined under the COVID-19 Prioritized Trademark Examination Program.
April 7, 2021
Fredrikson & Byron attorneys John Pickerill and Courtney Thompson covered a lot of content in their Advertising Law Trends to Watch in 2021 presentation on April 1, 2021.
March 17, 2021
Beyond coronavirus-related provisions, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed into law on December 27, 2020, contains significant changes to trademark and copyright laws.
March 5, 2021
On April 1, Fredrikson attorneys John Pickerill and Courtney Thompson reflected on the developments in media and advertising law expected in 2021 from Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement and privacy laws to safe harbor protection and force majeure claims.
February 17, 2021
Shareholders Lora Friedemann, Cynthia A. Moyer, John C. Pickerill and Ann Dunn Wessberg have been named to the top band in the 2021 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals for Minnesota.
November 30, 2020
Effective January 2, 2021, the USPTO is changing some of its trademark fees. This article highlights the most notable changes for electronic filings.
July 7, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
Delays caused by workforce shortages, supply chain disruptions and bad business practices may give rise to unanticipated (and costly) liability.
June 29, 2020
Once you have started using your trademark or received a trademark registration, you should put a watch or monitoring service into place.
June 22, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is accepting petitions to prioritize review of certain COVID-19 related trademarks.
May 29, 2020
By John S. Parzych, Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
The USPTO has extended the time to file certain patent-related documents and pay certain fees. Additionally, trademark-related deadlines extended under the CARES Act will expire on May 31, 2020.
May 4, 2020
By John S. Parzych, Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has again extended the time to file certain patent and trademark-related documents and to pay certain fees.
April 27, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
Under U.S. law, a brand cannot advertise that its products prevent, treat or cure human disease unless the brand possesses competent and reliable scientific evidence substantiating that the claim is true.
April 15, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
Copyright law plays an important role in the sharing of creative content. Whether you are an employer, an educator or a creative professional, legal guidance can help you avoid unintentionally violating copyright law.
April 6, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
Pandemic profiteers and trademark pirates are taking advantage of these difficult times by selling counterfeit goods to an unsuspecting public.
April 6, 2020
By Courtney A. H. Thompson and Jacob M. Abdo
The CARES Act calls for the USPTO to toll, waive, adjust or modify deadlines for certain patent and trademark-related filings during the COVID-19 outbreak.
February 19, 2020
Shareholders Lora Friedemann, Cynthia A. Moyer, John C. Pickerill and Ann Dunn Wessberg have been named to the 2020 edition of the WTR 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals for Minnesota.
December 2, 2019
The FTC released “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” to offer guidance on how influencers should disclose a relationship with a brand.
August 5, 2019
Beginning August 3, 2019, all foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants and parties will be required to have a U.S. attorney appear on their behalf in the U.S. Trademark Office.
March 15, 2019
The USPTO recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposing to amend the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases to require all applicants, registrants and parties to be represented by a U.S. attorney.
February 4, 2019
Fredrikson & Byron shareholders Lora Friedemann, Cynthia A. Moyer, John C. Pickerill and Ann Dunn Wessberg have been named to the 2019 World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR 1000) for Minnesota.
December 14, 2018
In the face of the nagging problem of fake products posing as genuine goods in online marketplaces, major e-commerce platforms are continuing to refine their strategies to address counterfeiting.
November 19, 2018
By Cynthia A. Moyer and Patricia A. Larson
Major amendments to the Canadian Trademarks Act were passed in 2014.
May 1, 2018
By Eric J. Snustad & David C. West
No matter how much IP experience a person has, it can be valuable to have short, easy-to-consume reminders of the basic things a company should consider.
March 20, 2018
Fredrikson & Byron shareholders Lora Friedemann and John Pickerill have been named to the 2018 World Trademark Review 1000, which recognizes attorneys and firms that are deemed outstanding in the trademark practice.
March 8, 2018
Recently, industry professionals sat down together at Fredrikson & Byron to talk about social media influencers.
January 25, 2018
Fredrikson & Byron presented a program featuring lessons-learned with advertising lawyers and renowned industry professionals.
October 25, 2017
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), service providers can obtain safe harbor protection from copyright infringement liability by, among other things, designating an agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement with the U.S. Copyright Office.
June 19, 2017
Instagram will soon launch a new tool to help its internet celebrities, or “influencers,” disclose when they are being paid by sponsors.
May 30, 2017
Fredrikson & Byron attorneys Lora Friedemann and John C. Pickerill were recognized in the 2016 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR 1000).
March 27, 2017
On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands case. The dispute turned on the issue of whether the patterns of cheerleading uniforms, including chevrons and stripes, are protected under copyright law.
February 3, 2017
Does your trademark registration identify multiple goods or services in a single class? If so, you could be subject to a random audit to make sure you are using your mark with all the goods and services claimed.
December 22, 2016
With support from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched a new program to stop the illegal importation and distribution of dangerous counterfeit consumer electronics at the border.
September 27, 2016
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection released a highly-anticipated report on lead generation on September 15, 2016. The paper summarizes staff perspectives on the topics covered at the FTC’s workshop on lead generation entitled “Follow the Lead” on October 30, 2015. Specifically, the report details the mechanics of online lead generation as well as the benefits and concerns associated with lead generation for both businesses and consumers.
June 1, 2016
Debuting in the 2016 edition of the IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals were Lora Friedemann and Ann M. Ladd. Also ranked again were Thomas R. Hipkins, Kurt J. Niederluecke, Charles D. Segelbaum and David C. West. The IAM Patent 1000 identifies the top patent professionals in key jurisdictions around the world.
April 27, 2016
Three blind law school graduates just filed a federal class action lawsuit in Texas, alleging that BarBri, Inc., the leading bar exam test prep company, violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act by “maintaining barriers to the accessibility of its services for blind students who use talking screen reading software and failing to make reasonable accommodations or provide auxiliary aids or services.” See, Stanley V. BarBri, Inc.
April 18, 2016
Important changes in the regulations governing European Union Community Trademarks (formerly CTMs, now called EUTMs) may affect the scope of your trademark protection for CTM applications filed before June 22, 2012.
April 1, 2016
In October 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that it was investigating the advertising practices of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) after it was uncovered that Volkswagen fitted its “clean diesel” automobiles with illegal emission defeat devices meant to mask emissions during government tests.
March 24, 2016
On March 23, 2016, the state’s high court clarified that domain names are property subject to garnishment under Minnesota law. Sprinkler Warehouse, Inc. v. Systematic Rain, Inc., d/b/a GPLAWN.com, No. A14-1121 (Minn. March 23, 2016).
March 2, 2016
LifeLock will pay $100 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle the FTC’s contempt charges that the company violated a 2010 federal court order that requires the company to protect consumers’ personal information and stop its deceptive advertising. This settlement is the largest award the FTC has obtained in an enforcement action.
March 1, 2016
Are co-existence agreements no longer a surefire strategy for getting a trademark registration in the face of a likelihood of confusion refusal? That could be the takeaway from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) recent decision in which it held that a co-existence agreement was insufficient to overcome a refusal based on likelihood of confusion. In re Bay State Brewing Co., Inc., Serial No. 85826258 (Feb. 25, 2016).
February 10, 2016
In a precedential decision issued by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), the TTAB affirmed the examining attorney’s refusal to register SMART SERIES because the mark was merely descriptive. In re Cannon Safe, Inc., Serial No. 85651960 (TTAB Sept. 24, 2015). This raises two questions: how is SMART SERIES descriptive? And, what is wrong with being descriptive?
February 2, 2016
A recent decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board serves as a good reminder that the title of a single work cannot be a trademark. Independent Media Corporation (PVT) Ltd. v. BOL Enterprise (PVT) Ltd., decided January 14, 2016.
January 22, 2016
In Hollywood Casino LLC v. Chateau Celeste, Inc., Opposition No. 91203686 (December 14, 2015), Applicant Chateau Celeste filed a trademark application to register the mark Hollywood Hotel. A problem arose, however, when Applicant’s President and CEO testified in a deposition that the Applicant was only a licensee – not the owner – of the mark. The Opposer, Hollywood Casino, seized on this testimony and moved for summary judgment, saying the Applicant could not apply to register a mark it did not actually own.
