Ohio State University’s toughest opponent this season is not on the football field, but in Washington D.C. – the United States Patent and Trademark Office. OSU recently applied to trademark the mark “THE” in order to protect a line of t-shirts and hats sporting the word in large letters above a very small school logo[1]. The USPTO responded to [...]
Lebron James’s recent bid to claim “Taco Tuesday” was a shot and a miss. After weeks of Tuesdays dedicated to shouting, embarrassing his kids, and eating tacos on Instagram, on August 15th Lebron James Trademarks LLC filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to trademark the phrase for use in advertising, marketing, and social [...]
Owning a business is no cakewalk and, as with most facets of modern life, being a woman makes it harder. From the gender pay gap to the lack of maternity leave to discrimination and harassment in the workplace, the barriers facing professional women are well-documented. If they fall into other underrepresented communities – women of color, queer women, disabled [...]
On July 31st, 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law House Bill 2462, an amendment to the Equal Pay Act of 2003. Previously passed through the legislature in 2017 and 2018, it was struck down both times by previous Gov. Rauner. The bill introduces provisions which prevent an employer from discriminating against job applicants based on their previous wage [...]
Way back in 1893, the Chicago World’s Fair saw 27 million visitors pour into downtown. Skip forward a century to 1991 to witness the birth of Lollapalooza, a festival that now brings massive money to our Windy City. Cities have long used fairs and festivals as economic engines, driving growth and investment, but the practice is not limited to [...]
