President Signs Changes To Trademark Dilution Law
Client Alert | 1 min read | 10.12.06
President Bush signs the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 (“Act”), amending the Lanham Act in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc ., 537 U.S. 418 (2003), which held that a dilution plaintiff must show actual dilution of its mark.
The Act lowers the standard set out in Moseley and provides that a plaintiff only needs to show a likelihood of dilution to sustain a claim. It specifically provides for relief from both dilution by blurring and dilution by tarnishment.
The new law also addresses a conflict among the Circuit Courts regarding whether a mark can be famous among a defined segment of the population, known as “niche market fame.” “Niche market” fame in a limited market appears to be disqualified by the Act's language that “a mark is famous if it is widely recognized by the general consuming public of the United States as a designation of source of the goods or services of the mark's owner.”
Insights
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From ‘Second’ to ‘First:’ Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Claim Errors
Patent claims must be clear and definite, as they set the boundaries of the patentee’s rights. Occasionally, however, claim language contains errors, such as typographical mistakes or incorrect numbering. Courts possess very limited authority to correct such errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has emphasized that judicial correction is appropriate only in rare circumstances, where (1) the error is evident from the face of the patent, and (2) the proposed correction is the sole reasonable interpretation in view of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history. See Group One, Ltd. v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 407 F.3d 1297, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) and Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2003).
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Brussels Court Clarifies the EU’s SPC Manufacturing Waiver Regulation Rules
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