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Precedential No. 1: TTAB Yawningly Affirms 2(d) Refusal of "MAX & Design" Over "MAX" for Overlapping Insurance Services

The first precedential decision of 2010 presents this question: Why is this decision precedential? The Board affirmed a Section 2(d) refusal to register the mark MAX & Design for various insurance services, including "writing property and casualty insurance," finding it likely to cause confusion with the registered mark MAX for "underwriting of property and casualty insurance." In re Max Capital Group Ltd., Serial No. 77186166 (January 4, 2010) [precedential].The Board began by observing that the legally identical nature of the services involved was a factor weighing "heavily" in favor of a finding of likely confusion.What about the marks? A "major issue" was the strength of the cited mark. Applicant tried to to show that the registered mark is weak by submitting numerous third-party registrations and third-party Internet uses of MAX marks...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).