Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents

The Federal Circuit recently reversed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision affirming an Examining Attorney’s refusal to register the mark MOSCOVSKAYA as primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive. In Russian, MOSCOVSKAYA means “from Moscow.” The Examining Attorney relied on the…

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Family-of-Marks Argument Not Available Against Likelihood of Confusion Refusal

In a recent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision, the Applicant attempted to register the mark CYNERGY and in response received a section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusal in light of a prior registration for SYNERGIE PEEL. In responding…

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Another Loss for the New England Patriots

The Applicant in this case filed an application for “19-0 THE PERFECT SEASON” on November 8, 2007, seeking registration on the Supplemental Register, and amended the application on April 22, 2008 to seek registration on the Principal Register. In the…

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