Other Barks & Bites for Friday, August 7: PTAB Precedential Ruling Clarifies OTDP Examination Practices; Eleventh Circuit Says Keyword Bidding Isn’t Trademark Infringement; and Buc-ee’s Expands Trademark Enforcement Campaign
This week, the Eleventh Circuit held that keyword bidding itself cannot constitute trademark infringement, and the PTAB issued a precedential ruling in Ex parte Baurin clarifying the framework for obviousness-type double patenting (OTDP) examinations.
WISECODE Take
The Eleventh Circuit’s August 7, 2020 ruling clarified that purchasing competitor trademarks for keyword advertising does not directly constitute trademark infringement, rectifying common business misconceptions. Alongside the PTAB’s August 6 precedential ruling in Ex parte Baurin regarding obviousness-type double patenting (OTDP), U.S. IP enforcement is shifting toward clearer boundaries, offering predictable standards for Taiwanese companies expanding to the U.S. If your business does not run U.S. keyword ads or file patents, these updates will not affect you; however, those planning U.S. expansion can leverage Zhidian's Trademark Monitoring service to track competitor movements. Facing this landscape, we advise: first, you may bid on competitor names for U.S. keyword ads, but avoid using their trademarks in the ad copy; second, review your U.S. patent family claims to prevent OTDP rejections.
Original sources
Compiled automatically by WISECODE IP Radar. Summaries are short source excerpts; commentary is AI-generated. See the source links for full text.
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