SCOTUS Opens Door to Generic Trademark Registrations

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling the case United States Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com. The ruling granted Booking.com the right to register a trademark of its name. Previously, the USPTO blocked such registration, citing laws that state generic names cannot be trademarked.

In essence, the Court's 8-1 decision held that adding ".com" to a generic word can make the entire combination eligible for trademark protection. The opinion of the Court was written by the Notorious RBG herself, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What’s the impact of this for businesses? It’s pretty simple — it just got a whole lot easier to get your trademark registered. As Associate Justice Stephen Breyer noted, “today's decision will lead to a proliferation of 'generic.com' marks, granting their owners a monopoly over a zone of useful, easy-to-remember domains.”

Time for you to reassess your intellectual property portfolio?