Trademark Registration Process: How to sail through Federal registration and avoiding Section 2(D) Likelihood of Confusion Refusals

Courtney Sarnow | Culhane Haughian & Walsh PLLC

Courtney Sarnow is a partner in the Atlanta office of Culhane Meadows with over twenty five years of experience in a broad-based transactional practice with a specific focus on intellectual property and technology. She has developed a distinctly creative and problem solving approach to address client plans and issues. As a young attorney, Ms. Sarnow learned that focusing on what a client can’t do and shouldn’t do is unnecessarily limiting and seldom helps the client maximize corporate opportunities. Her approach of looking for ways to accomplish corporate goals within an informed legal framework is more valuable for growth focused, technology forward companies than a stereotypical corporate counsel who instinctively thwarts innovation.

Early in her career with Dow, Lohnes & Albertson in Atlanta, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and in IP Licensing with traditional clients, as well as some unusual NASCAR and Professional Bull Rider representation thrown in from time to time. This gave her an appreciation for creative clients. After a sojourn in Philadelphia at Temple University as a Teaching Fellow earning an LLM in Law Teaching and studying developing issues in computer law and software licensing, she returned to Atlanta to teach as an Adjunct at Emory Law and develop a practice focused on intellectual property protection and general corporate strategies for artists, inventers, and innovative entrepreneurial ventures.

I. What is a Trademark? What can be Registered and Protected – and What Cannot | 2:00pm – 2:30pm

II. What are the Elements of a Successful Application? | 2:30pm – 3:00pm

Break | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

III. What are Some Common Errors and Pitfalls of the Registration Process? | 3:10pm – 3:40pm

IV. How to Avoid Likelihood of Confusion (Section 2(d)) Failures | 3:40pm – 4:10pm