I must confess that this has been one of the most difficult cases to review. While appellate decisions that leave some issues unresolved for later are not unusual, this one, in my opinion, is particularly notable in a negative sense, both for the shamefully extended process inflicted upon the litigants to get to a conclusion and for what seems an unnecessarily convoluted course of reasoning that invites further litigation for no compelling reason.

In a closely watched and heavily anticipated decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently came down solidly behind our own Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in addressing a split among the appellate courts as to the consequences when a trademark licensor files for bankruptcy.

Recently, a prominent long-established property tax law firm, O’Keefe Lyons & Hynes, LLC, of Chicago filed a suit for trademark infringement in Chicago federal court against O’Keefe Law Firm, Ltd. of LaGrange. Reprising its illustrious history, the elder firm argues in its complaint that “the term ‘O’Keefe’ is the most distinctive…