Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs -> The TTABlog

Intellectual Property Law

: The TTABlog

Ruling that TTAB Misapplied Section 2(e)(3) Test, District Court Reverses TTAB's "GUANTANAMERA" Decision

In a review by way of civil action, brought under 15 U.S.C. Section 1071(b)(1), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reversed the TTAB's decision in Corporacion Habanos, S.A. v. Guantanamera Cigars Co., 86 USPQ2d 1473 (TTAB 2008) [precedential]. The Board had found the mark GUANTANAMERA for cigars to be primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive under Section 2(e)(3). [TTABlogged here]. The federal court ruled that the Board "erred as a material of law in applying the materiality requirement" of Section 2(e)(3) of the Trademark Act. Guantanamera Cigar Co. v. Corporacion Habanos, S.A., Civil Action No. 08-0721 (RCL) (August 5, 2010 D.D.C.).Opposer's cigarsThe district court followed the CAFC's decision in In re Spirits International, N...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on August 19, 2010 (boomark / email).