Online now – IP Clinic on hashtag rights

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Online now – IP Clinic on hashtag rights

What kind of trade mark protection is available to users of Twitter hashtags? That’s the question posed in this month’s IP Clinic

In each issue of Managing IP magazine we ask three professionals to respond to an IP dilemma faced by an in-house or private practitioner. This month we asked Michelle Ward of the UK’s Wynne-Jones IP, Lisa Martens of Fish & Richardson in California, and Gabriela Kennedy of Mayer Brown JSM in Hong Kong to provide a European, US and Asian perspective to the question: “Should we try to trade mark our hashtag?”

They explain how brand owners need to apply first principles when assessing the likelihood of obtaining trade mark protection for their hashtags and explain why the commercial objectives of using hashtags may clash with efforts to secure legal protection for them. You can read their answers in the November issue of the magazine (you need to be a subscriber or take out a free trial). Other recent IP Clinics have considered the use of music in advertising campaigns, corporate rebranding and dealing with lookalike products sold by supermarket discounters.








more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Alston & Bird acted for InterDigital, while Samsung was represented by Fish & Richardson, during the arbitration process
Powell Gilbert lawyers reveal how they navigated parallel EPO proceedings and collaborated with European peers to come out on top in the Nordic-Baltic Division’s first judgment
The firms posted increases in revenue and profit per equity partner, with both giving a nod to their IP expertise
EasyGroup, the owner of the easyJet airline, said in a press release that UK-based first-instance judges are “less experienced”, bringing a long-running debate back to the fore
A cross-practice team from Mayer Brown, which included members of the firm’s IP practice, advised on the deal
María Cecilia Romoleroux discusses the challenges she has faced in her career in IP and how she hopes to improve things for the next generation of women
Value-added services give in-house counsel the satisfaction that they are getting more value for money, while law firms get the opportunity to win more work
A team at Boies Schiller Flexner is advising shoe company Kizik and parent company HandsFree Labs in the dispute
Nokia’s latest enforcement actions against Geely and Transsion joining Via LA’s AAC pool were also among the top talking points
Benjamin Kelly, the firm’s fifth IP partner hire in a little over one year, has experience in patent and trade secret disputes involving complex technologies
Gift this article