Intellectual Property

Patagonia is suing an ally, drag climate activist Pattie Gonia, for $1. It feels like a betrayal. Trademark law says it mostly isn't.

Taylor Swift filed a sound mark application built around an Amazon Music ad for the album she's currently being sued over. The USPTO probably won't register it. Here's why — and why federal name-image-likeness legislation is what this whole conversation is actually missing.

The TTAB's first precedential opinion of 2026 refused registration of an eight-slice pancake design as a trademark, finding the configuration functional — largely because the applicants' own marketing materials and arguments explained exactly why it's useful.

The 1972 Coca-Cola v. Gemini Rising case shows how trademark parody can cause illegal consumer confusion.