News & Analysis as of

Descriptive Trademarks Trademarks Generic Marks

Smart & Biggar

The OQLF’s new guidelines: practical resources for trademarks on products

Smart & Biggar on

On June 26, 2024, the Regulation to amend mainly the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (the Regulation) was published in the Gazette officielle du Québec. Since then, the Office québécois de la...more

Vicente LLP

How to Choose a Trademark for Your Cannabis Brand

Vicente LLP on

Building a strong and distinctive brand identity for your business is crucial for driving sales, fostering consumer loyalty, and standing out in any industry, and more so for emerging and rapidly evolving sectors such as...more

AEON Law

Patent Poetry: Trademark Denied for “ChatGPT”

AEON Law on

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied OpenAI’s applications to trademark “ChatGPT” and “GPT.” The Final Office Action states, “Registration is refused because the applied-for mark merely describes a...more

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP

Don’t Be Descriptive, Be Creative!

There once was a company named Zotz, Which created toys for tots, Let’s use “Robotoy,” Zotz declares, File at once, Lawyer Zares, Months later, Zotz is dejected, Too descriptive, trademark rejected. First published in...more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

How To Select a Strong Trademark

Learn how to select a strong trademark. What makes a strong trademark vs. a weak trademark and the different types: generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful....more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Derby Pie Eats Humble Pie

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Rupp v. Courier-Journal, Inc. involves a dispute between the makers of DERBY-PIE®—a trademarked chocolate-nut pie—and a local newspaper that published two articles about other businesses creating other chocolate-nut desserts....more

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC

Not all trademarks are created equal

Not all trademarks are equal in strength and the scope of exclusive protection they are afforded. The strength of a mark is determined based on the mark’s ability to be distinctive of the of goods and services offered under...more

International Lawyers Network

Generic.com — Registrable In Canada?

The U.S. Supreme Court recently confirmed that a “generic.com” term may be eligible for federal trademark registration in the U.S., in certain circumstances. We will review the relevant decisions, discuss the Canadian legal...more

Locke Lord LLP

Supreme Court Holds that Booking.com Isn’t Generic

Locke Lord LLP on

In U.S. Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., the Supreme Court held that a term that combines a generic word with “.com” is not generic if consumers perceive the term to signify the source of a product and thus...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

MarkIt to Market® - June 2020: Breaking News: Booking.com Prevails in Genericness Challenge

The June 30th Supreme Court decision in Booking.com held that generic terms coupled with top-level domain names can be eligible for trademark registration. This decision is a win for brand owners as it reinforces how – in the...more

Jaburg Wilk

Generic.Nope: Supreme Court Deems BOOKING.COM a Distinctive, Registrable Mark

Jaburg Wilk on

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Booking.com B.V., the owner of the hotel-reservation website of the same name, is entitled to register the mark BOOKING.COM with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”)....more

Blank Rome LLP

What’s It to You?: SCOTUS Looks to Consumers in Examining “Generic.com” Trademarks

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In an 8-1 decision delivered by Justice Ginsburg, the Supreme Court declined to adopt a per se rule that combining a generic term with “.com” necessarily yields a generic mark ineligible for federal trademark registration....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Isn’t It Ironic? SCOTUS Rules BOOKING.COM Eligible for Trademark Registration

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On June 30, the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, issued a highly anticipated decision in United States Patent and Trademark Office et al. v. Booking.Com B.V. answering the question whether a trademark consisting of a...more

Polsinelli

Booking.Com Secures Key Trademark Win From Supreme Court – Internet Domain Name Marks Aren’t Always Generic

Polsinelli on

In the ruling handed down this week in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., No. 19-46, the United States Supreme Court voted 8-1 to affirm lower court rulings holding the trademark applications for...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Booking.com Not Generic: Supreme Court Holds Combined Generic Terms Can Be Eligible for Trademark Registration

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Supreme Court held June 30, 2020, in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., that a generic term combined with a generic internet-domain suffix is not per se ineligible for trademark registration....more

Knobbe Martens

A Mark Styled "Generic.Com" May Be Trademark Eligible

Knobbe Martens on

Before the Supreme Court of the United States. On Writ of Certiorari from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Summary: A term styled "generic.com" is not necessarily generic and can be eligible for...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Supreme Court Trademark Ruling Shows You Can’t Judge a Book(ing) by Its .Com

McGuireWoods LLP on

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30, 2020, decided U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., handing a win to Booking.com and holding that whether a generic term combined with a “.com” domain name results in a generic...more

Stinson LLP

Supreme Court Holds “Generic.com” Marks are Not Per Se Generic

Stinson LLP on

In an 8-1 decision issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to adopt the per se rule urged by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that when a generic term is combined with a domain name like “.com,” the resulting...more

McCarter & English, LLP

Book It: Supreme Court Holds Booking.com Is Registrable As A Trademark

How appropriate that the first-ever Supreme Court case to consider whether trademarks used on the internet can be registered should also be the first in which oral argument was conducted remotely. The issue in this historic...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

The Parameters of Generic Marks: Booking.com before the Supreme Court

The Lanham Act (“Act”) makes it clear that generic terms cannot be registered as trademarks. But can an online business create a protectable trademark by adding a generic top-level domain (e.g., “.com”) to an otherwise...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Booking.com – Justices Persevere through First-Ever Conference Call Oral Argument to Hear Arguments as to Registrability of .Com...

On Monday, May 4, 2020, for the first time in its 231-year history, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments through a telephone conference call, allowing the attorneys to present arguments while complying with shelter-in-place...more

BakerHostetler

SCOTUS Livestreams Oral Arguments on BOOKING.COM Trademark Registerability

BakerHostetler on

On Monday, we listened in real time to the livestreamed Supreme Court oral arguments in the trademark registration case United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.  Because of COVID-19, the arguments were...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Landmark Trademark Protection Case Before Supreme Court

United States trademark law makes a strong distinction between “descriptive” and “generic” terms. The former are potentially accorded substantial benefits, while the latter can never be entitled to protection and are not...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

The Joint is Just a Music Joint, Not a Trademark

The Federal Circuit in In re JC Hospitality LLC recently affirmed the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s refusal to register the service mark THE JOINT for a venue offering...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court to Consider When a Mark Is Too Generic for Protection

McDermott Will & Emery on

The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari on a petition filed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) seeking to overturn a district court decision in favor of Booking.com. The PTO argues that the mark is...more

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