This course will provide an overview of trademarks, including how to select, register using the new USPTO Trademark Center, and maintain. The course will then discuss a number of recent court decisions relating to trademarks, including the risk of using another’s trademarks in ads, risks of comparing products in ads, failure to function, de minimis use, genericness, surnames, and translations.
- Trademark Overview
- Understand how to define a trademark
- Sliding scale of trademark strength
- Why register a trademark with the USPTO
- Trademark Process
- Walk through the trademark process
- Search, file, and maintain
- Possible Pitfalls in the Trademark Process
- Failure to adequately select an enforceable trademark
- Failure to meet USPTO requirements
- Failure to adhere to the “less is more” principle
- Failure to maintain or even complete registration
- Advertising Issues
- Risk of using another’s trademarks in ads
- Risks of comparing products in ads
- Court Decisions
- Court decisions relating to failure to function, de minimis use, genericness, surnames, and translations
- Questions & Answers (as time permits)
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Status: Approved
Credits: 1.00 General
Status: Approved
Credits: 1.00 General
Difficulty: All Levels
Status: Approved
Credits: 1.00 General
Status: Pending
Credits: TBD
This presentation is approved for one hour of General CLE credit in California, one hour of General CLE credit in South Carolina (all levels), and one hour of General CLE credit in North Carolina. An application for accreditation of this activity has been submitted to the MCLE Committee of the State Bar of Texas and is pending.
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Note that CLE credit, including partial credit, cannot be earned outside of the relevant accreditation period. To earn credit for a course, a lawyer must watch the entire course within the relevant accreditation period. Lawyers who have viewed a presentation multiple times may not be able to claim credit in their jurisdiction more than once. Justia reserves the right, at its discretion, to grant an attendee partial or no credit, in accordance with viewing duration and other methods of verifying course completion.
At this time, Justia only offers CLE courses officially accredited in certain states. Lawyers may generate a generic attendance certificate to self-submit credit in their own jurisdiction, but Justia does not guarantee that lawyers will receive their desired CLE credit through the self-submission or reciprocity process.

Kirby Drake Law PLLC
Kirby B. Drake is the Founder of Kirby Drake Law PLLC in Dallas, Texas. Since 2002, Ms. Drake has focused her efforts on helping clients successfully navigate their intellectual property (IP) challenges, whether those challenges relate to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or copyrights. She has a special focus on the patent process, as she is a registered patent attorney. Ms. Drake is a former chair of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property (IP) Section as well as the Women and the Law (WAL) Section.