Success in an Ex Parte Appeal of a Refusal to Register a Trademark
Overview
In a rare precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board reversed the decision of the Examining Attorney refusing to register the mark REPUBLIC OF LONDON for apparel on the ground that the mark was primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of the goods because they did not originate from London, England. The decision has since been added to the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedures at § 1210.02(c)(iii), Arbitrary, Fanciful, or Suggestive Composites, and § 1210.02(b)(i), Other Meanings.
References
Jonathan Sibony, 2021 WL 4812119 (TTAB Oct. 14, 2021)
