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CAFC Affirms TTAB: 660-Word Proposed Mark Fails to Function As a Trademark

October 12, 2016| in The TTABlog| by John L. Welch

The CAFC upheld the TTAB’s affirmance [TTABlogged here] of a refusal to register the mark shown below, comprising about 600 words, for, inter alia, cartoon prints, paper dolls, and coloring books, finding that substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that the proposed mark merely conveys information and does not function as a trademark. In re Prema Jyothi Light, Appeal No. 2014-1597 (October 7, 2016) [not precedential].

shimmering-ballerinas
(Click on photo for larger picture.)

The court observed that, although there is no limit on the number of words permitted in a trademark, the Board was correct in finding that the exhaustive list of characters, in columnar form, weighs in favor of finding no registrable trademark.

Applicant Light argued that her purported mark has acquired distinctiveness, but the court agreed with the TTAB: absent “evidence that the matter has been promoted as a trademark, we cannot find that the applied-for mark has acquired distinctiveness regardless of the time the applied-for mark has been used in this manner.”

The court also upheld the Board’s ruling that applicant’s proposed amendments to her purported mark constituted material alterations of her mark and were therefore unacceptable.

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