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At Last We Know: 'Hotel' Is Generic

By Robert J. Ambrogi

Attention all ye who think the legal system has run amok: It took six years, two appeals and who-knows-how-many lawyers to arrive at the legal conclusion that the word "hotel" is generic. In fact, the word is "a prima facie case of genericness," said the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That is an appeal court judge's way of saying that the answer was obvious from the get-go. The question arose in the context of the application of Hotels.com to register its name as a service mark. The trademark examining attorney refused the registration for the reason that the proposed mark is generic and therefore ineligible for protection. Hotels.com appealed to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In March 2008, it issued a decision affirming the refusal of the registration, likewise concluding that the term was generic. Hotels.com then appealed to the Federal Circuit, which issued its decision, In Re Hotels.com, this week. In its decision, the Federal Circuit summarized the TTAB's analysis. The TTAB reviewed dictionary definitions, Web sites and other hotel-related domain names to conclude, not surprisingly, that hotel is a generic word used to refer to "temporary lodging." On this much, great legal minds can agree....

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on July 27, 2009 (boomark / email).