Intellectual Property Law Blog | Michigan IP Attorneys | Foster Swift https://www.fosterswift-ipblog.com/category/united-states-patent-trademark-office-uspto Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:35:36 -0400 Forever in Greyscale: Why Black and White Still Rules Design Trademarks https://www.fosterswift-ipblog.com/black-and-white-preferred-medium-design-trademark-applications black-and-white-preferred-medium-design-trademark-applications Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:00:01 -0400 Some of you may remember when your favorite classic film was first released in color: re-edited, remastered, and modernized for our modern 4K and OLED TVs. Or many of you may not be old enough to have ever watched a movie or television show in black and white at all.

Either way, in trademark law, color is not preferred! Despite how counterintuitive it seems, black and white still rules supreme when it comes to filing design trademark applications, and for good reason.

The Black-and-White Rule

Under long-standing United State Patent and Trademark (USPTO) practice, a design mark filed in ...

]]> Who Should Have the Power to Shut Down a Market? https://www.fosterswift-ipblog.com/who-has-the-power-to-halt-competing-patents who-has-the-power-to-halt-competing-patents Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:00:02 -0400 Injunctions, Innovation, and the Problem We Can’t Price

There is a shift happening in patent law, but its real impact will not be felt in policy statements...it will be felt in federal courtrooms.

Recently, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Statement of Interest in Collision Communications, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., reinforcing a principle that has quietly eroded over time: a patent is a right to exclude, and injunctions are central to that right.

At first glance, that sounds obvious, patents have always been ...

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