TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2026
Artificial Intelligence
USA
Second Circuit affirms $900,000 attorneys’ fee award against attorneys who pursued unreasonable trademark infringement case. Balestriere Fariello v. Gimlet Media, Inc., No. 24-2155 (2d Cir. Oct. 15, 2025).
In 2015, Reply All Corp., which owned a Registration for REPLYALL for “Computer services,More
USA
Anthropic case settled: Bartz v. Anthropic, No. C 24-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
In 2024, three authors filed a class action against Anthropic, maker of the AI chatbot Claude.
During discovery, plaintiffs learned that Anthropic purchased millions of new and used books,More
USA
USA – Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Drag Queen’s Claim Against Netflix
Lance Hara, a “well-known Drag Queen in Hollywood” professionally known as Vicky Vox, sued Netflix. The suit concerned Netflix’s use of Vox’s likeness and persona (but not her name) in an animated series,More
U.S. Federal Circuit Court Holds Dark Green Is Generic for Medical Exam Gloves
In re PT Medisafe Technologies, No. 2023-1573 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 29, 2025)
Medisafe, the medical glove manufacturer, applied to register a color mark, namely “the color dark green (Pantone 3285 c) as applied to the entire surface of the goods which consist of chloroprene examination gloves.” The drawing and specimen are shown below:More
As January 2025 draws to a close, five new states have taken their places in the patchwork of U.S. comprehensive privacy laws. The laws of Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and New Hampshire took effect on New Year’s Day, with New Jersey’s law effective two weeks later.More
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is raising fees for many routine trademark filings as of January 18, 2025, and is simultaneously adopting a new filing platform and fee structure for new applications seeking registration under Sections 1 and 44 of the Lanham Act.More
The Brand Safety Alliance has launched GlobalBlock, a domain blocking service, providing brand owners the opportunity to block their marks from being illegitimately registered with 500+ gTLD and ccTLD domain extensions in a single transaction. For $4,700 per year, a GlobalBlock registration will cover a single exact match ‘string’ (i.e.,More
There are changes coming to .NL domain registrations. Beginning October 1, 2023, owners of .NL domains will no longer be able to use proxy or privacy services as the nominal registrants of their domain name. This change is intended to make domain owners more easily contactable and to prevent bad actors from dishonestly registering a domain.More
A new domain extension, .MUSIC, is launching soon. .MUSIC is a restricted TLD (top level domain) that is exclusive to artists, music-based business, and other members of the global music community. Content on a .MUSIC website may only relate to music.
The Sunrise period,More