{"id":391,"date":"2018-06-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/2018\/06\/04\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/"},"modified":"2018-06-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T00:00:00","slug":"the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Finds There is \u201cSomething More\u201d Sufficient to Show That Restaurant Services are Related to Alcoholic Beverages"},"content":{"rendered":"

In In re Honeyhole Sandwiches Inc., Serial No. 87138294<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (\u201cTTAB\u201d) agreed with the Examiner in refusing the registration of HONEYHOLE SANDWICHES because it was confusingly similar to HONEY HOLE under Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act.\u00a0 In this decision, a strong mark, a menu, and the private labeling trend proves to be \u201csomething more\u201d to show that alcoholic beverages and restaurant services are related.\u00a0 This decision is also consistent with the trend in the Trademark Office when examining applications for food, alcoholic beverages, and restaurants in finding that seemingly unrelated goods are related, e.g. alcoholic beverages and cigars<\/a>; or beers, on the one hand, and vodka<\/a> on the other.<\/p>\n

The Applicant sought registration of HONEYHOLE SANDWICHES for \u201crestaurant with bar specializing in serving proprietary unique sandwiches, local beers and alcohol in a vibrant, eclectic environment\u201d in Class 43.\u00a0 The examiner refused registration, citing the registration for the mark HONEY HOLE for \u201calcoholic beverages except beers\u201d in Class 33.<\/p>\n

In evaluating the du Pont <\/em>factors, which the TTAB considers in determining a likelihood of confusion, the TTAB unsurprisingly found that the dominant part of Applicant\u2019s mark \u201cHONEYHOLE\u201d was similar in sight, sound, and meaning to Registrant\u2019s \u201cHONEY HOLE\u201d mark.<\/p>\n

More notably, in looking at the similarities between the goods and services, the TTAB found that the Examiner met the \u201csomething more\u201d requirement to show a relatedness of the goods and services.\u00a0 The Federal Circuit requires that \u201c[t]o establish a likelihood of confusion a party must show something more<\/strong> than that similar or even identical marks are used for food products and for restaurant services.\u201d\u00a0 Under this requirement, simply because a restaurant offers certain beverages does not mean that the food or beverage is related to the restaurant services.<\/p>\n

To determine whether there is \u201csomething more\u201d rendering the food or beverage related to restaurant services, the TTAB will examine evidence of a specific commercial relationship between the food or beverage and restaurant services and evaluate whether consumers would be likely to believe that an association exists between the food or beverage items and the restaurant services.\u00a0 The requirement may also be met when the registrant\u2019s mark is a strong mark.<\/p>\n

Here, the TTAB noted that HONEY HOLE was a strong mark and that Applicant\u2019s application specifically included \u201cserving \u2026alcohol.\u201d\u00a0 The TTAB also found that the Applicant\u2019s specimen supported a finding of relatedness.\u00a0 The specimen identified \u201cHONEYHOLE COCKTAILS!\u201d as part of the menu which was used just below the HONEYHOLE SANDWICHES mark.<\/p>\n

The TTAB also examined evidence of third-party registrations of the same mark for alcoholic beverage and restaurant services.\u00a0 While the TTAB noted that third-party registrations alone are insufficient to show the requisite \u201csomething more,\u201d the Examiner also submitted evidence showing that restaurants offer private-label alcoholic beverages under the same mark for their restaurant services, as well as news articles about the trend in restaurants to offer private label alcoholic beverages.\u00a0 The Examiner submitted evidence of online advertising by companies offering to create private label beverage lines for restaurants.\u00a0 Based on this additional evidence, the TTAB found that there was probative evidence establishing that alcoholic beverages and restaurant services are similar.<\/p>\n

Relatedly, the TTAB found that the trade and distribution channels for Registrant\u2019s alcoholic beverages included restaurants, and that Applicant sold alcohol at its restaurants.\u00a0 There was no evidence of any restrictions on distribution or that the consumers were anyone other than the general public.\u00a0 Accordingly, the TTAB found that the trade channels and classes of consumers were similar.<\/p>\n

This decision highlights the interesting impact that the growth in the private label alcoholic beverage has on trademark owners seeking registration.\u00a0 The more expansive the private label trend gets, the more related other goods and services become.\u00a0 For trademark owners of alcoholic beverages, this only gives further reason to do your due diligence in the beginning before investing time and financial resources in building your brand.\u00a0 A trademark clearance search will provide trademark owners a better understanding of potentially related goods and services that could bar federal trademark registration.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to discuss the issues of trademark clearance or trademark registration, please contact Danielle DeFilippis<\/a> at dmdefilippis@norris-law.com<\/a> or Jeanne Hamburg<\/a> at jhamburg@norris-law.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In In re Honeyhole Sandwiches Inc., Serial No. 87138294,\u00a0 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (\u201cTTAB\u201d) agreed with the Examiner in refusing the registration of HONEYHOLE SANDWICHES because it was confusingly similar to HONEY HOLE under Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act.\u00a0 In this decision, a strong mark, a menu, and the private labeling trend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,298,118,46,299],"tags":[305,306,300,310,288,304,290,291,294,302,303],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Finds There is \u201cSomething More\u201d Sufficient to Show That Restaurant Services are Related to Alcoholic Beverages - More Than Your Mark\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Finds There is \u201cSomething More\u201d Sufficient to Show That Restaurant Services are Related to Alcoholic Beverages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In In re Honeyhole Sandwiches Inc., Serial No. 87138294,\u00a0 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (\u201cTTAB\u201d) agreed with the Examiner in refusing the registration of HONEYHOLE SANDWICHES because it was confusingly similar to HONEY HOLE under Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act.\u00a0 In this decision, a strong mark, a menu, and the private labeling trend […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"More Than Your Mark\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-04T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/12\/Honey-Hole.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"354\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Norris McLaughlin, P.A.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Norris McLaughlin, P.A.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-finds-there-is-something-more-sufficient-to-show-that-restaurant-services-are-related-to-alcoholic-beverages\/\",\"name\":\"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Finds There is \u201cSomething More\u201d Sufficient to Show That Restaurant Services are Related to Alcoholic Beverages - 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