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Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer intellectual property and technology litigation blog! Check here for useful news and information about patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other IP and technology litigation developments.
Our IP & Technology Litigation Attorneys:
Generic.com Terms May Be Eligible for Federal Trademark Protection
By Jessica D. Kemper and David G. Barker Today, the Supreme Court held in U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. that a generic term paired with an internet designation such as “.com” (called a “generic.com” term by the Court) may be eligible for federal trademark registration. When will a generic.com term be eligible for registration? According to the Court, one key consideration is whether consumers associate the generic.com term with the source of the goods or services. A generic term—the name of the good or service itself—is not eligible for trademark protection because it cannot distinguish one company’s Read More »
Posted in Internet and Domain Name Litigation, Trademark Litigation
| Tagged generic, Supreme Court
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Is “Booking.com” Generic? We’ll Booking.See
By Andy Halaby The Supreme Court’s decision in United States Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com to take up whether booking.com is generic, and thus unprotectable as a trademark, is intriguing. The government maintains the term is generic. It starts with the premise that the root term “booking” is generic. As for “.com,” the government likens it to “Company,” and invokes the Supreme Court’s 1888 decision in Goodyear’s Rubber Mfg. Co. v. Goodyear Rubber Co. where the Court observed, The addition of the word ‘Company’ only indicates that parties have formed an association or partnership to deal in such goods, Read More »
