Insights

Chicago – January 17, 2025: World IP Review ranked Crowell & Moring in its USA Trademark Rankings 2024. These rankings are “a comprehensive guide showcasing the leading law firms and lawyers in the field of trademark law in the United States.”

In 2023 and 2024, several U.S. states enacted extensive “Right to Repair” laws, reflecting a growing legislative focus on ensuring consumers have access to the parts and resources needed to repair their own products without relying on the product’s original manufacturer. Most recently, California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, and Oregon implemented comprehensive regulations aimed at providing consumers direct access to tools, parts, and information for the repair of various electronic devices and equipment, including digital products and agricultural machinery. As the “Right to Repair” movement continues to gain significant traction across the United States, it is critical that manufacturers understand these laws and how these laws will impact their individual businesses.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued the one millionth U.S. Design Patent on September 26, 2023. U.S. Design Patent 1,000,000 is directed toward the ornamental design of a dispensing comb and was issued to Agustina Huckaby, an inventor and licensed cosmetologist from Fort Worth, Texas. This significant milestone, 181 years after the first design patent was issued in 1841, comes during a time of increased interest in design patents. The USPTO reports that in 2022, more than 50,000 design patent applications were filed, and that the USPTO has seen an 20% increase in design applications over the past five years.

In March 2023, the USPTO and its Council for Inclusive Innovation announced the First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program.  This new program benefits those individuals or small businesses that are first-time filers for patent rights and qualify as “micro entities.”  Through the program, these micro entities receive an expedited first Office action, which the USPTO hopes will lower time-based barriers for inventors that acted as barriers to commercialization or may have otherwise precluded inventors’ use of the patent system. 

It’s All Hearsay! The podcast where lawyers give current news, practical tips and real stories on legal issues relevant to in-house attorneys - hosted by the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). In this episode All Style, No Substance, you’ll hear Emily Kappers, who is joined by Emily Eitches, House of Blueberry’s Director of Business Development, discuss intellectual property considerations in the virtual world. Listen or access from one of these links: