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TTAB Affirms Rejection of Applicant’s Own Magazine As Specimen for Publishing Services

March 29, 2018April 2, 2018| in The TTABlog| by John L. Welch

The Board affirmed a refusal to register the mark BEARPLAY for “magazine publishing; publication of entertainment magazines for gay men” on the ground that the specimens of use submitted by applicant failed to show use of the mark with the recited services. In re Bear Omnimedia LLC, Serial No. 87009944 (March 27, 2018) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christopher Larkin).

Applicant submitted several magazine covers of, and pages from, volumes of a magazine entitled BEARPLAY. The mark appears on the cover and at the bottom of pages next to the page number.

The Board pointed to the TMEP, which states that “publication of one’s own periodical is not a service, because it is done primarily for applicant’s own benefit and not for the benefit of others.” TMEP Section 1301.01(b)(iii) (Oct. 2017) (citing cases). Magazine publishing services must be rendered for the benefit of someone other than the publisher of the magazine. In re Alaska Nw. Publ’g Co., 212 USPQ 316, 317 (TTAB 1981).

Applicant’s magazine covers may support registration in Class 16 as a trademark for magazines, but they do not show an association between the mark and the services of “magazine publishing” or the “publication of entertainment magazines for gay men” for others.

The Board therefore affirmed the refusal to register under Sections 1 and 45 of the Lanham Act.

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