Posts Tagged: "genericness"

Lessons from GRUYERE: A Roadmap for Proving Genericness from the TTAB

Following the widely discussed BOOKING.COM Supreme Court genericness case, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Board) took up a genericness case of its own. Int’l. Dairy et al. v. Interprofessionnel du Gruy?re addresses whether a geographic certification mark for GRUYERE is generic for cheese or eligible for registration as a certification mark. In addition to providing an extensive roadmap for how to prove a genericness claim, the case may also be of interest to food and beverage industry applicants seeking to obtain and enforce certification marks.

Amanda Marston & Hope Hamilton

September 6, 2020

Booking.com Case Heats Up at Supreme Court

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari filed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) asking the Court to consider “Whether the addition by an online business of a generic top-level domain (“.com”) to an otherwise generic term can create a protectable trademark.” Booking.com filed its brief for the respondent in the case last week, arguing that “under the Lanham Act, the consumer is king,” and the fact that survey evidence has proven 74.8% of relevant consumers to consider BOOKING.COM a brand, rather than a generic name, “should end this case.”

IPWatchdog

February 19, 2020