U.S.-based online outdoor goods retailer, Backcountry.com, has faced a significant social media backlash over the past month, with both customers and competitors publicly reacting to its aggressive trademark enforcement campaign. It all started when news broke that the brand had taken action against a huge number of smaller companies that happened to use the term “backcountry” in their names. Public documents revealed that Backcountry.com had been attempting to cancel trademarks against businesses using the term, filing lawsuits against a multitude of smaller companies over the past two years. The impact was far ranging, with disputed trademarks, product and business names including American Backcountry, Backcountry Babes, Marquette Backcountry Skis, Backcountry Denim Co., Backcountry Nitro, Cripple Creek Backcountry and many more.
Business
- Mossoff-Barnett Comment on EU Commission’s Call for SEP Evidence Spotlights Misconceptions About FRAND Obligations
- Misusing March-in Rights for Price Control: A Dagger to the Heart of Small Companies
- Examining the Circuit Split on Preliminary Injunctions in False Advertising Post-eBay
- USPTO Tasked with Promoting Inclusive Innovation, Improving Prior Art Search Tools Under Commerce Strategic Plan
- It’s Time for NIH to Uphold the Law, Once Again
Recent Posts
- Day One of Patent Litigation Masters: We Must Become Ambassadors for the U.S. Patent System Again
- USTR Needs to Step Up Trade Enforcement
- IP Practice Vlogs: Claiming Foreign Priority – An Overview of Patent Cooperation Treaty, Paris Convention and Patent Prosecution Highway Practice
- Other Barks & Bites for Friday, May 20: CAFC Remands No Case or Controversy Determination to Eastern Texas, Ninth Circuit Rules 2018 Farm Act Legalized Delta-8 THC Trademarks, and EU Commission Directs Member States to Codify Copyright Rules
- CAFC Gives Google Second Shot at PTAB in Challenge of Communications Patents