Trademark and Unfair Comp.

Boston College Law School

February 6, 2008

Intent to Use

Bases for Registration

• Lanham Act §1 (15 U.S.C. 1051):– (a) (1) The owner of a trademark used in

commerce may request registration ...– (b)

• (1) A person who has a bona fide intention … to use a trademark in commerce may apply to register the trademark …

• (3) … no mark shall be registered until the applicant has met the requirements for subsection[] … (d) of this section.

Intent to Use

• Lanham Act §1 (15 U.S.C. 1051):– (d) (1) Within six months after the date on

which the notice of allowance … is issued … , the applicant shall file … a verified statement that the mark is in use in commerce …

Intent to Use Procedure

ITU Application Filed Initial PTO Review

PTO Publishes

Notice of Allowance

30-Day Period for Opposition

Statement of Use Filed

6-Month Period (Extendable)

Second PTO Review

Trademark Registered

Actual Use in Commerce

Lanham Act

• Lanham Act §7(c) (15 U.S.C. 1057(c)):– Contingent on the registration of a mark …,

the filing of the application … shall constitute constructive use of the mark, conferring a right of priority, nationwide in effect

WarnerVision v. Empire

Sep. 23, 1994: TLV Files ITU App. For REAL WHEELS

Empire WarnerVision

Actual Use of REAL WHEELS

Notice of Allowance

Statement of Use Filed

6-Month Period (Extendable)

Second PTO Review

Trademark Registered

Actual Use in Commerce

Jan. 3, 1995: Files Use App. For REAL WHEELS

Sues to Enjoin Empire from Using Term

Eastman Kodak v. B&H

Oct. 12, 1990: Files ITU App.For 6200, 6800, 8100

Kodak Opposes: Descriptive

B&H Kodak

Notice of Allowance

Statement of Use Filed

6-Month Period (Extendable)

Second PTO Review

Trademark Registered

Actual Use in Commerce

Initial PTO Review

PTO Publishes

Advantages of Registration

• Nationwide constructive use - priority

• Nationwide constructive notice

• Possibility of achieving incontestability

• Presumption of validity at trial

• Right to sue in federal court

• Availability of extra remedies (e.g. attorney fees, treble damages, border exclusion …)

Registration Process

• Clearing the trademark

• Start use or have bona fide intent to use

• File application

• Examination by PTO

• Publication in Official Gazette

• Registration– Or if intent to use, notice of allowance and later

filing of statement of use; then registration

Additional Issues

• Principal v. Supplemental Register

• Foreign registrations

• Trademark registration maintenance

Bars to Registration

• Lanham Act §2: – (a) Immoral, scandalous, deceptive; disparages

– (b) Flag, coat of arms, insignia of U.S., state, etc.

– (c) Name, portrait, signature of living individual

– (d) Likely to cause confusion with other mark

– (e) Consists of mark that is:• (1) merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive

• (2) primarily geographically descriptive

• (3) primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive

• (4) primarily a surname

• (5) functional

Bars - Immoral, Scandalous

• Lanham Act §2:– Shall register mark unless it:

• “(a) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter, or matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute”

In re Bad Frog Brewery

Scandalous or Immoral?

• Yes– MADDONA (wine)

– MESSIAS (wine)

– BUBBY TRAP (bras)

– BULLSHIT (briefcase)

– Picture of defecating dog (t-shirts)

• No– BUDDA (beachwear)

– BIG PECKER (t-shirt)

– WEEK-END SEX (magazine)

– BLACK TAIL (adult magazine)

Harjo v. Pro-Football, Inc.

Other Examples

Bars to Registration

• Lanham Act §2: – (a) Immoral, scandalous, deceptive; disparages

– (b) Flag, coat of arms, insignia of U.S., state, etc.

– (c) Name, portrait, signature of living individual

– (d) Likely to cause confusion with other mark

– (e) Consists of mark that is:• (1) merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive

• (2) primarily geographically descriptive

• (3) primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive

• (4) primarily a surname

• (5) functional

Bars - Flags, Individuals

• Lanham Act §2:– Shall register mark unless it:

• “(b) Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any State or municipality, or of any foreign nation …

• “(c) Consists of or comprises a name, portrait, or signature identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent …”

Bars - Likely to Cause Confusion

• Lanham Act §2:– Shall register mark unless it:

• “(d) consists of or comprises a mark which so resembles a mark registered … or a mark or trade name previously used in the United States by another and not abandoned, as to be likely … to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive.”

Bars to Registration

• Lanham Act §2: – (a) Immoral, scandalous, deceptive; disparages

– (b) Flag, coat of arms, insignia of U.S., state, etc.

– (c) Name, portrait, signature of living individual

– (d) Likely to cause confusion with other mark

– (e) Consists of mark that is:• (1) merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive

• (2) primarily geographically descriptive

• (3) primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive

• (4) primarily a surname

• (5) functional

Bars to Registration

• Lanham Act §2:– (f) Except as expressly excluded in subsections (a), (b),

(c), (d), (e)(3), and (e)(5) of this section, nothing herein shall prevent the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become distinctive of the applicant’s goods in commerce. The Director may accept as prima facie evidence that the mark has become distinctive … upon proof of substantially exclusive and continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in commerce for the five years before the date on which the claim of distinctiveness is made ….

Lanham Act §2(e)

• Descriptive– “ORGANIC” for organically

grown oranges

• Deceptive– “ORGANIC” for non-organic

oranges

• Deceptively misdescriptive– “JOE’S FAVORITE” for

oranges that aren’t Joe’s favorite

• Nondeceptively misdescriptive (arbitrary)– “ATOMIC” for oranges

• Geographically descriptive– “FLORIDA” for Florida oranges

• Geographically deceptive– “FLORIDA” for Georgia

oranges

• Geographically deceptively misdescriptive

– “FLORIDA” for auto parts from New Jersey

• Geographically nondeceptively misdescriptive (arbitrary)

– “ANTARCTIC” for Georgia oranges

Examples, Redux

Geographic

DescriptiveFlorida

(Florida Oranges)

Misdescriptive

NondeceptivelyAntarctic

(Florida Oranges)

DeceptivelyFlorida

(Georgia Oranges)(NJ Auto Parts)

§2(e)(2) - Can register if Secondary Meaning

§2(e)(3) - Cannot register

Arbitrary or suggestive - Can register

Examples

• ARIZONA (ice tea, not made in Arizona)

• NANTUCKET (fruit drinks made in Nantucket)

• CORNING (glassware products made in Corning, NY)

• HERSHEY (chocolate made in Hershey, PA and elsewhere)

• PARK AVENUE (luxury car, not made on Park Avenue)

• SWISS ARMY KNIFE (pocket knife, not made in Switz.)

Bars to Registration

• Lanham Act §2: – (a) Immoral, scandalous, deceptive; disparages

– (b) Flag, coat of arms, insignia of U.S., state, etc.

– (c) Name, portrait, signature of living individual

– (d) Likely to cause confusion with other mark

– (e) Consists of mark that is:• (1) merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive

• (2) primarily geographically descriptive

• (3) primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive

• (4) primarily a surname

• (5) functional

Administrative Details

• Next Assignment– V.A – Genericity– V.B – Abandonment