Blackletter

Today, we're going to talk about COVID and coronavirus in the trademark world. Whenever there's a big news story or something that just entices the United States population, and in this case, the globe, in this case, it's coronavirus and COVID, and COVID-19, these are new terms that we've never heard before. And there's a huge misconception among the public that if you register something at the USPTO, you own it, and so there was a massive rush. I think more than 200 trademarks were filed since December 19th containing the words COVID or coronavirus. A couple problems with that, registering a trademark has to be associated with something that is sold in commerce, goods or services. Now, most of these trademark registrations are clothing registrations. So if you register something COVID and you put it on the front of a piece of clothing, that's not doing what trademarks do. That's an ornamental use of the mark. So key here, and this is just a good lesson for everybody out there, is trademarks identify the so