Nothing to Turn Your Nose up at: Playdoh and the dawn of scent trademarks

On Friday, May 19th, Hasbro announced that the characteristic scent of their well-known Play-Doh product has been officially recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a registered trademark of the brand. This presents a major step forward in the evolution of “scent trademarks”, with Hasbro being by far the largest corporation to […]

Virgil Abloh’s “Trademark”

Virgil Abloh, the Creative Director of fashion house Off-White and currently one of the biggest designers in the fashion industry, may have some important legal decisions to make in the near future. Abloh has been using quotation marks around everything he associates with the Off-White brand. Whether it is a design feature on a shoe, a […]

Just Laugh It Off: Trademark Parody and the Expansion of User Rights

I was invited to attend the Canadian Bar Association Intellectual Property section’s IP Day 2017 and Judges’ Dinner, on May 11, 2017 in Ottawa. It was an honour to be invited as the winner of the Intellectual Property Law student essay contest for my paper “Just Laugh It Off: Trademark Parody and the Expansion of […]

Artwork to Ashes, Brands to Dust: Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Act Held Constitutionally Valid

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: The High Court of Australia recently ruled that the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act withstands constitutional scrutiny, in JT International SA v Commonwealth of Australia. Retailers and smokers will thus soon find themselves scrutinizing things as well, in order to distinguish between identical cigarette packages stripped of all branding and trade-marks.