{"id":410,"date":"2019-02-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/2019\/02\/12\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/"},"modified":"2019-02-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T00:00:00","slug":"the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Says \u201cYes, You Canna!\u201d Register CANNABIS CANNIBALS for Entertainment Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

In In re Jeffrey Butscher<\/em>, Serial No. 87572095<\/a>, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examiner\u2019s refusal to permit the trademark registration of the mark CANNABIS CANNIBALS for \u201centertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring animated cannabis smoking cannibals provided through network or cable TV and the internet.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Applicant\u2019s IMDb page<\/a>, \u201cCannabis Cannibals stories the irreverent and comedic life of two weed smoking cannibals, who move to America in pursuit of becoming Reality TV Stars, while at the same time battling their unique eating disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Examiner asserted that the CANNABIS CANNIBALS mark merely describes the subject matter of the entertainment series, (i.e., cannabis smoking cannibals).\u00a0 The Applicant admitted that the series features animated cannabis smoking cannibals.\u00a0 However, the Applicant argued that the mark is suggestive, not descriptive, because viewers must use their imagination to understand the content and genre of the show.<\/p>\n

The TTAB applied the test for descriptiveness:\u00a0 whether a mark \u201cimmediately conveys knowledge of a quality, feature, function, or characteristics of the goods or services with which it is used.\u201d\u00a0 If a mark is deemed to be descriptive, the TTAB determines whether the descriptive mark has acquired distinctiveness, thereby overcoming this basis of refusal.\u00a0 Descriptiveness is determined in relation to the particular goods or services, the context in which it is being used, and the possible significance that the term has to an average consumer.\u00a0 The TTAB further clarified that competitor use or need is not part of this inquiry.<\/p>\n

For a suggestive mark, the test is whether \u201cone must exercise\u00a0 mature thought or follow a multi-stage reasoning process in order to determine what product or service characteristics the term indicates.\u201d<\/p>\n

In applying these tests, the TTAB determined that CANNABIS CANNIBALS is not merely descriptive, because the \u201cprimary significance of CANNABIS CANNIBALS to a prospective viewer indicates an ongoing entertainment series and the fanciful animated fictional, principal characters of the series.\u201d\u00a0 The TTAB further found that a descriptiveness finding in this case would \u201clead to an inequitable result that this Applicant, as well as countless other applicants in the creative industries, could not register their marks because the marks identify their characters or the subject matter of the televisions shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example, the TTAB cited registrations for the marks MORK & MINDY, THE LITTLE ENGINE, SUPERMAN, BATMAN, JOKER, and ROAD RUNNER as marks that identified fictional characters, yet still functioned as protectable trademarks. \u00a0The TTAB noted that other decisions where character marks were held to be merely descriptive were distinguishable because those marks were for historical figures or fictional public domain characters, such as MARTHA WASHINGTON or THE LITTLE MERMAID, where consumers do not typically associate a commercial entity as the source for these marks.<\/p>\n

The TTAB also found that the alliteration in the double use of the letter \u201cC\u201d further adds to the suggestive character of the mark.<\/p>\n

This decision is also notable because the TTAB rarely reverses an Examiner\u2019s descriptiveness refusal.\u00a0 In fact, about 90% of the time, the TTAB affirms the Examiner.<\/p>\n

If you have questions about trademark registration or any other trademark and\/or cannabis issues related to your brand, 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 Jeffrey Butscher, Serial No. 87572095, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examiner\u2019s refusal to permit the trademark registration of the mark CANNABIS CANNIBALS for \u201centertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring animated cannabis smoking cannibals provided through network or cable TV and the internet.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Applicant\u2019s IMDb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[315,46,299],"tags":[256,358,359,199,288,355,290,302,303],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Says \u201cYes, You Canna!\u201d Register CANNABIS CANNIBALS for Entertainment Services - 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-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/\" \/>\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 Says \u201cYes, You Canna!\u201d Register CANNABIS CANNIBALS for Entertainment Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In In re Jeffrey Butscher, Serial No. 87572095, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) reversed the Examiner\u2019s refusal to permit the trademark registration of the mark CANNABIS CANNIBALS for \u201centertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring animated cannabis smoking cannibals provided through network or cable TV and the internet.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Applicant\u2019s IMDb […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"More Than Your Mark\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/12\/Trademark-stamp.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"3 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-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trademarks\/the-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-says-yes-you-canna-register-cannabis-cannibals-for-entertainment-services\/\",\"name\":\"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Says \u201cYes, You Canna!\u201d Register CANNABIS CANNIBALS for Entertainment Services - 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