by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - March 30, 2011 - i. Trademark Infringement Lawsuits
The law blog Lawyerist files lawsuit against Peerviews Inc., to invalidate its trademarks “BigLaw” and “Small Law."
On February 24, Aaron Street from the Lawyerist blog received a trademark notice threat letter from trademark law firm Fish & Richardson demanding it remove its Feb. 15 blog post titled “Above The Law Goes Small Law” because the use of “Small Law” in the title of the post infringed on its client’s trademark registration in the words “SmallLaw."
The Lawyerist published the blog post with the title “Above The Law Goes Small Law” in reference to another legal blog called “Above The Law” which started covering news related to small law firms. In light of this, the Lawyerist maintains that the title was descriptive and accurate.
The Lawyerist states that the term “SmallLaw” is “descriptive to the point of being generic and under the Lanham Act should not have been registered as enforceable trademarks”, and asks that the court declare that its use of “small law” did not infringe Peerviews’ trademark, as well as the cancellations of the two marks. This is a classic case where the arguments of trademark law firms will help shape the result given the intellectual property principles involved, including trademark distinctiveness, cancellation proceeding grounds, and infringement.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
