Descriptive Marks

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This week, the United States Supreme Court issued an important decision in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com affirming that “Booking.com” is a protectable trademark.  This case stemmed from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“PTO”) rejection of Booking.com’s attempt to register its domain name as a service mark for hotel registration services…

This week, the Federal Circuit issued a new decision that once again reflects the tricky conundrum facing businesses whose trademarks are a collection of descriptive words.

In such circumstances, the Patent & Trademark Office – as well as the courts that review PTO decisions – frequently require such a business to “disclaim” any rights in…