Intellectual Property

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If you’ve ever tried to carve a pumpkin, you know it’s not as easy as it seems. The knife gets stuck, one eye ends up bigger than the other, and your jack-o’-lantern looks less “terrifying” and more “mildly concerned.” Necessity is the mother of invention, so it’s no surprise that in 1979, Christopher A. Nauman came up with a better way to carve a pumpkin, and then patented it. The Patent Office apparently enjoys a little drama, because U.S. Patent No. 4,296,659: Jack-O-Lantern Forming Method, was granted on October 27, 1981, four days before Halloween.

Continue Reading Trick or Claim? What a Pumpkin Patent Teaches Us About Method Claims

On October 26th, Lauren Leipold, J.C. Heinbockel, and Raymond Wong presented “Trademark Strategy for Asian Companies Entering the U.S. Market: Trademark Protection and Monetization.” The program explored an increasingly important question for companies looking to grow in the United States: how can trademark strategy support not just brand protection, but broader business objectives?

For Asian companies entering the U.S., one of the most important distinctions is that U.S. trademark rights are based largely on use in commerce. Registration offers important benefits, but registration alone does not establish ownership. For companies accustomed to first-to-file systems, that distinction places a premium on early clearance, including consideration of prior marketplace use as well as federal applications and registrations.

Ownership also deserves attention well before filing. Whether a mark is held by the Asian parent, a U.S. subsidiary, or a dedicated IP holding company can have implications for how the business uses, controls, licenses, and enforces its rights. Getting the structure wrong at the filing stage can create complications that follow a brand for years.

Asian-origin marks bring another layer of complexity. Translation and transliteration requirements, as well as the meaning of translated terms, can all influence the U.S. analysis. And the strategy should not end when a registration issues. Maintaining rights, exercising quality control in licensing arrangements, monitoring third-party use, and considering enforcement options all become part of protecting the value of the brand as the U.S. business grows.

Continue Reading U.S. Trademark Strategy: What Asian Companies Should Consider Before Entering the Market
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Nobody likes the grammar police. Patent lawyers, unfortunately, may be the exception.

In Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Pfizer Inc. No. 2025-1427 (Fed. Cir. June 23, 2026), one character did a lot of damage. The difference between C2 and C1 cost Enanta the priority date of its provisional application—and led the Federal Circuit to affirm that the challenged claims were anticipated.

Turns out proofreading really can be worth millions.

But the case raises a more interesting question: Even if Enanta had gotten that one number right, did its provisional actually demonstrate possession of the later-claimed invention?

Enanta’s patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,358,953) covered compounds for inhibiting coronavirus replication and claimed priority to a provisional application filed in July 2020.

Continue Reading The One-Carbon Mistake That Cost A Patent Its Priority Date
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Shady’s back, back again—but this time with limited trademark success. In a prior post, we outlined how rapper Eminem has aggressively pursued protection of his trademarks in the United States and abroad, including a petition before the USPTO seeking cancellation of an Australian beachwear brand’s registration for the mark SWIM SHADY. At the time, related proceedings were still pending in Australia. Now, IP Australia, the government agency responsible for trademark registrations, has weighed in.

Continue Reading Hi, My Name Is … Swim Shady? A Recent Setback in Eminem’s Global Trademark Enforcement Efforts Clears the Way for an Australian Beachwear Brand

In Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino’s character famously describes American football as a game of inches. In this football—umm, soccer—that line has become almost literal: joy, heartbreak, and World Cup survival can now turn on a toe, a shoulder, or a few millimeters.

Just ask Iran.

For a few glorious seconds, Iran had done it. In the 93rd minute against Egypt, Shoja Khalilzadeh bundled the ball into the net. Seattle Stadium erupted. Players sprinted toward the corner flag. Millions of Iranian fans around the world celebrated what appeared to be the winning goal that would send Iran through. Then came the dreaded signal: VAR (Video Assistant Referee). In an instant, joy was shown the red card.

After a lengthy review, the goal disappeared. An Iranian attacker had been offside by mere millimeters when the shot was taken. The celebration lasted longer than the goal itself—a brutal reminder that, in modern football, even a toe can be caught straying past the last defender.

Sound familiar?

Continue Reading From Ecstasy to Agony: The Patented Technology Behind VAR’s Most Heartbreaking World Cup Moments

Seyfarth had the honor of participating in and sponsoring the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) VIA Intellectual Property Law Institute (IPLI), a weeklong program held in Washington, DC.

The annual IPLI program offers law students the opportunity to participate in an engaging week of programming with practitioners across the field. Students met with lawyers, judges, regulators, and policymakers from key institutions, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the U.S. Copyright Office, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The program also included a visit to the U.S. Supreme Court. The jam-packed week concluded with a closing ceremony and celebratory happy hour for students, volunteers, speakers, and practitioners, hosted by Seyfarth’s Washington, D.C., office.

Continue Reading A Week in Washington, DC: Seyfarth Engages Emerging IP Talent at the HNBA VIA Intellectual Property Law Institute
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Benjamin Cheng, Unsplash

A Boston‑based jewelry brand, now reintroduced as CLUB COASTAL, illustrates that resolving one trademark dispute does not prevent another. As discussed in our prior post, the conflict between Lagos and Coastal Caviar centered on the shared use of CAVIAR for jewelry, raising questions about similarity of marks, market overlap, and scope of protection for CAVIAR as a trademark for jewelry. That dispute has since been settled. So, the answer to the various questions may not be known. Further, Coastal Caviar started moving forward under a new name.

Continue Reading Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams – Can Two CAVIAR Marks for Jewelry Coexist? (Update)
If you feel the desire to write a book, what would it be about?
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AI is now a core part of creating modern marketing materials. Creative teams are using AI to create content, personalize experiences, streamline design workflows, and scale creative production faster than ever. As these AI tools continue to evolve, so do the opportunities and the risks.

This guide breaks down challenges marketers face today and the…

As fearsome as Godzilla has proven to be over the decades, the indomitable kaiju may have found its foil in Japanese copyright law.  A Tokyo court recently found several individuals guilty of violating Japanese law for publishing spoiler-heavy posts, including in relation to a recent Godzilla movie, on an entertainment review website.  The penalty for…

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Seyfarth’s 2026 Commercial Litigation Outlook reinforces a key reality for IP practitioners: artificial intelligence is not just driving innovation—it is fundamentally reshaping how intellectual property is created, protected, and challenged. This year, Seyfarth’s Intellectual Property team contributed insights focused on the growing risks to trade secrets, ownership rights, and proprietary information in an AI-driven environment.…