Trademark Use in the U.S. and the European Union

I’ll keep this one very short as many of you are scrambling to clear off the files on your desk before the Christmas holiday. But when you are looking for a reason to escape the chaos this holiday season, Professor Dr. Axel Nordemann and I have provided you with the perfect excuse – the publication of our article in the INTA Trademark Reporter on The Concepts of Use of a Trademark Under European Union and United States Law. The current issue of the Reporter is focused almost exclusively on use, a topic that before this publication I would have said didn’t get nearly enough attention. I am glad to see use getting the spotlight. It does require INTA membership to read the article at this point, but if you do have access please feel free to comment here and let me know your thoughts on the article and our brief debate over whether the EU registration-based or the U.S. use-based trademark regime is better, and how we might improve them both.

Merry Christmas to all.

Tara Aaron

Tara helps clients across multiple industries and countries with licenses and disputes involving trademarks, copyrights, domain names, software, trade secrets, and privacy compliance. She earned her Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) in U.S. Privacy Law in 2018 and in European Data Protection Law in 2019. Her clients include many technology start-ups, software developers, and website designers as well as long-standing institutional clients who come to her for representation in copyright, trademark, licensing and privacy. She also assists with the purchase and sale of intellectual property assets. She has on multiple occasions successfully obtained hijacked domain names for the rightful owners, and regularly negotiates service and technology agreements with the largest telecommunications and software providers in the country.