Field notes from the team.
Short posts on catching legal risk early, and turning what you find into client and prospect briefings.
What Section 15 Incontestability Actually Forecloses, and What Survives It
Incontestability under Section 15 does one narrow, valuable thing: it forecloses the argument that your registered mark is merely descriptive (Park 'N Fly). It does not make the registration bulletproof. Nine statutory defenses survive it, and the affidavit can be filed after any five consecutive years of continuous use, not only the first.
ReadCentral Attack: The Five-Year Window That Decides Whether Your Client's Whole Madrid Portfolio Survives
For five years, every extension of protection built on a Madrid international registration is tethered to the basic home mark. If that home mark falls within the window, every designated country falls with it. Transformation can save the foreign rights, but only if you file national applications within three months of the cancellation, and that deadline cannot be extended for any reason.
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