|
Trademark Refusal- United States
On February 6, 2007, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) preliminary refused registration of mark OBAMA BIN LADEN on the grounds that (i) the mark consists of scandalous matter and will create a false impression of association between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden and (ii) the consent of those individuals is not of record.
The case history is: According to the USPTO website, application was filed by Alexandre Batlle of Miami Beach, Florida on January 19, 2007 for "hats, shirts, bumper stickers, pins". Shortly thereafter, the USPTO issued an Office Action denying registration because of the above reasons. In order to clarify the word "scandalous", USPTO explained that a mark which is "shocking to the sense of truth, decency or propriety; disgraceful; offensive; disreputable... giving offence to the conscience or moral feelings or calling out for condemnation" as applied to the associated goods, is a scandalous mark. While BIN LADEN was scandalous and not registerable because "the terrorist acts perpetrated by this individual's organization on September11, 2001 have caused the name BIN LADEN itself to be synonymous with the acts themselves". In addition the USPTO found that the proposed mark falsely suggested a connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. Although those individuals were not connected with the goods covered by the application, it was determined that it would give bad impression to the consumers about their conectivity.
Finally, the registration was refused by USPTO and the applicant has until August 6, 2007 to respond to the refusal.
For any
queries relating to our services and costs, please feel free to
contact us at info@iprfirm.com.
IPR
FIRM.COM - Online IPR Law Firm, India – Trade Marks, Copyright Registration,
Delhi, India
| | |
(c) IPR Firm, 2007.
|
