[E-trademarks] Unity of control--celebrity allowing use of name on products

Mon Dec 2 23:15:05 UTC 2024

If she controls the nature and quality of the goods, like Susan, I would
want to have a license in place to recognizing that and more fundamentally
her ownership of the marks.

Also, why let the licensees apply for registration.  Wouldn't you want
Taylor Swift as the owner to hold the application? I have seen many
instances where the mark owner and the licensee subsequently break up and
the licensee wont give up the registration without litigation.

On Mon, Dec 2, 2024 at 5:48 PM Crane, Susan via E-trademarks <
e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:

> Add a coexistence agreement on to it and it might work.
>
> But why doesn’t celebrity own the marks and license the users? Without a
> license how do you argue unity of control?
>
>
> Susan L. Crane
> Group Vice President, Legal
> Intellectual Property, Brands & Marketing
>
> Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
> 22 Sylvan Way
> Parsippany, NJ 07054
> O (973) 753-6455
> M (973) 879-3420
> Susan.Crane at wyndham.Com
>
> On Dec 2, 2024, at 11:31 PM, Pamela Chestek via E-trademarks <
> e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:
>
> 
> I don't know if it might help, but I have successfully invoked TMEP 1201.
> 03(e) where a licensee had registered the trademark, with a geographic
> qualifier, before my client, the licensor, filed its application. We were
> able to overcome the refusal
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> I don't know if it might help, but I have successfully invoked TMEP
> 1201.03(e) where a licensee had registered the trademark, with a geographic
> qualifier, before my client, the licensor, filed its application. We were
> able to overcome the refusal by stating that the prior registrant was a
> franchisee of the junior applicant. It's not quite the same but the theory
> might be the same, they are both under the control of the licensor.
>
> Pam
>
> Pamela S. Chestek
> Chestek Legal
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> On 12/2/2024 2:09 PM, Kevin Grierson via E-trademarks wrote:
>
> Got a refusal with an interesting twist.  Here’s the scenario: celebrity
> (let’s say Taylor Swift) gives permission to an entity to use her name for,
> say wine, that entity registers WINE BY TAYLOR SWIFT.  Then she gives
> permission to a different entity to use her name in connection with beer.
> USPTO issues a refusal for BEER BY TAYLOR SWIFT based on prior wine
> registration.  Ownership issues aside, can you argue “unity of control” if
> Taylor is, in fact exercising quality control over both products even
> though they are manufactured by different entities?  The TMEP sections on
> unity of control don’t seem to address this issue.
>
>
>
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