Sometimes the PTO does get it right!
PTO geek post alert!
One of the PTO's most exasperating grounds for refusal of registration is that the mark sought to be registered is primarily merely a surname. While for Smith or Miller that may be fine, there are plenty of really obscure surnames that the public really just doesn't view as a surname. (See this response to an initial refusal to register PUGET ENERGY on the ground that Puget is primarily merely a surname - it worked, by the way).
How delighted I was then to read David Lebovitz's wonderful blog this morning: First, I learned about a new American chocolatier, Askinosie Chocolate. Then I started to wonder . . . I see the (R) registration notice, but I'm wondering whether that's a surname. Sounds like "Ashkenazi," the word for Jews of Eastern European origin . . . wonder if the PTO had an issue with that as a surname . . . Let's check!
Well, I checked, and the PTO reflexively issued a surname refusal, but then backed off with little fuss. The applicant didn't even have to argue the rareness of the name, which suggests to me that the PTO had a pretty weak case; normally, even when their database shows as few as 30-odd listings of a particular name among millions, they'll raise the refusal.
So bravo to all, and now it's time to track down that chocolate!
One of the PTO's most exasperating grounds for refusal of registration is that the mark sought to be registered is primarily merely a surname. While for Smith or Miller that may be fine, there are plenty of really obscure surnames that the public really just doesn't view as a surname. (See this response to an initial refusal to register PUGET ENERGY on the ground that Puget is primarily merely a surname - it worked, by the way).
How delighted I was then to read David Lebovitz's wonderful blog this morning: First, I learned about a new American chocolatier, Askinosie Chocolate. Then I started to wonder . . . I see the (R) registration notice, but I'm wondering whether that's a surname. Sounds like "Ashkenazi," the word for Jews of Eastern European origin . . . wonder if the PTO had an issue with that as a surname . . . Let's check!
Well, I checked, and the PTO reflexively issued a surname refusal, but then backed off with little fuss. The applicant didn't even have to argue the rareness of the name, which suggests to me that the PTO had a pretty weak case; normally, even when their database shows as few as 30-odd listings of a particular name among millions, they'll raise the refusal.
So bravo to all, and now it's time to track down that chocolate!
What a blast from the past! It made me recall my own response to a descriptiveness refusal for PUGET SOUND ENERGY on the grounds that, though descriptive, the mark had secondary meaning because it was (and would be seen by consumers as) a fusion of the the marks of the two merged companies Puget Sound Power & Light and Washington Energy, both of which individually had secondary meaning. That worked too. I hope you're doing well.
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I think you did the PSE one and then I inherited the PUGET ENERGY one where they pulled the surname refusal out of thin air. All is well here - sleeping dog on my lap while I blog. See what you think of the next one I'm about to post.
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