Greetings to our readers! We hope you manage to enjoy summer during the interesting times we live in! Our offices here in Palo Alto are still closed, as are most offices in the Bay Area, but we are staying very productive working remotely on some very exciting projects.
In this newsletter, we feature a webinar that will take place on August 25th, on the topic of
IP and Startup Valuations in Times of Crisis, with a focus on Life Sciences companies (hosted by LES USA-Canada, life Sciences Sector). Check our the preview video below for more information:
Life Sciences Webinar Preview: Aug. 25
In this newsletter, we also bring you highlight and a link to a webinar we offered last month on Brand valuation, discussing some of the most frequent questoins we get from our clients regarding the valuation of their brands, with case studies demonstrating valuation methods. On a related topic, our most recent blogdiscusses the recent Supreme Court decision on the eligibility of Booking.com for federal trademark protection.
In a recent webinar (hosted by the EU-Japan Tech Transfer Helpdesk), Foresight president, Efrat Kasznik, discussed best practices for managing brands to optimize their value. The webinar provided answers to some of the most frequent questions we get from our clients regarding the valuation of their brands:
1.How to grow trademarks into a powerful brand? - explaining the difference between a Trademark and a Brand, and how to select a trademark that will not be considered generic (in that context, see also our Blog Highlights section below, covering the Supreme Court's recent decision re: Booking.com).
2.How do brands bring value to a company? - discussing several examples from leading brands, like Apple and Gucci, to highlight the common ways brands bring value, including: higher market share, brand licensing, premium pricing and product extensions.
3. What are the most common brand valuation approaches? - covering the three main Brand valuation approaches: the Income approach, the Market approach and the Cost approach. The valuation approaches have been demonstrated through a case study from a real-life client engagement.
4. Will COVID-19 impact my brand? - while some iconic brands are going bankrupt, the key to surviving the recent economic downturn is by creating additional brand monetization opportunities, while retaining customer loyalty and brand awareness.
The Supreme Court ("Court") in USPTO v. Booking.com resolved a dispute about whether a generic name can become eligible for federal trademark registration though the addition of an internet-domain-name suffix such as ".com." The USPTO rejected applications by travel-reservation website Booking.com seeking federal registration of marks including the term "Booking.com." The USPTO concluded that "Booking.com" is a generic name for online hotel-reservation services and as a generic name, the USPTO was forced to reject the applications.
Booking.com took their argument to the District Court seeking judicial review and the District Court held that "Booking.com" - as opposed to the term booking standing alone - is not generic. The Court of Appeals agreed with the District Court and rejected the USPTO's position that combining a generic term with ".com" results in a generic composite.
Check out how one of our clients Battelle Labs, has been supporting our healthcare workers by innovating new technology that decontaminates PPE on the frontlines!
The National Institutes of Health may own intellectual property rights to a leading coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna, The agency rarely claims ownership stakes or pursues patent rights, but that appears to be different with this coronavirus vaccine.
Modera seems to be embroiled in more patent drama. The company lost an attempt at invalidating a U.S. patent owned by Arbutus Biopharma, in connection with a patent infringement lawsuit filed against it in 2016.