By: Timothy Chien

Next year, the Supreme Court will decide whether the addition of top-level domains such as “.com” can turn otherwise generic marks into protectable trademarks under the Lanham Act. On Friday, November 8, The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in Booking.com B.V. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In its petition, the USPTO asked the Supreme Court to review a Fourth Circuit ruling that rejected the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) finding BOOKING.COM generic and thus not federally registrable.

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By: Taylor Fairchild

It may be surprising, but the answer appears to be a resounding yes.

Conflicts Between State and Federal Law

In November of 2012, the Washington State Legislature successfully passed Initiative 502, which allowed for the use of recreational marijuana in the state. Washington became one of the first states, along with Colorado, to decriminalize recreational marijuana and many states followed suit. Seven years later, 33 states in the country have decriminalized medical marijuana, recreational marijuana, or both. In August of 2013, the United States Department of Justice announced it would not interfere with state level legalization, but required states to strictly regulate the distribution and sale of marijuana.

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By: Simrit Hans

The Egyptian government’s recent threat to sue the British auction house, Christie’s, for the return of an ancient sculpture encapsulates a familiar narrative regarding cultural property’s state of chaotic displacement. The argument on one side is that cultural items have been looted, improperly exported, and ought to be returned. The other side, however, argues that these demands for return are often built on ethical or political grounds rather than legal ones and are unreasonable because of the passage of time and difficulties tracing ancient art’s provenance.

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By: Alex Nelson

In just over five years, Allbirds Inc. successfully built a billion dollar company around what have been referred to as “the world’s most comfortable shoes.” Any discerning observer just needs to walk around tech cities like Seattle or San Francisco to see a small army of young professionals wearing the distinctive lightweight wool shoes. Allbirds provides sustainable wool athletic sneakers that are made almost entirely of natural materials. The company’s website specifies that the shoes are made using “materials that exist right in front of us” in order to reduce the environmental impact of the retail process. A standard pair of Allbirds contains recycled bottles, sugarcane stalks, and castor bean oil rather than inorganic materials that would have a larger environmental footprint. Additionally, Allbirds’ direct to consumer model allows them to utilize a box which functions as a shipping box and shoebox all in one. The box contains about 40% less material, is made of 95% recycled cardboard, and is 100% recyclable.

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By: Justin Brascher

Sports gambling is everywhere. When you watch ESPN, it is quite common for the night’s big game to scroll across the ticker on the bottom of the screen, with the point spread–a number only used for betting purposes– listed next to the teams playing in the game. But if betting on the game is illegal in thirty-nine states, then why is the number listed?

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