ARTICLE · 05 AUGUST 2020

Booking.com – Is It Generic?

ENS

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Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the judgment in the recent case of United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com that may in time be referred to as the "generic.com case".

South AfricaIntellectual Property

Ferosa-Fae Hassan

Manisha Bugwandeen-Doorasamy

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Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the judgment in the recent case of United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com that may in time be referred to as the "generic.com case". The US Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") had held that Booking.com was not a registrable trade mark for travel-related services. Not too surprisingly, it took the view that the word "booking" is totally descriptive of, and therefore unregistrable for travel-related services, and that the addition of the suffix".com" adds no distinctiveness at all. This decision was overruled by the courts and the issue finally ended up at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court found in favour of Booking.com. Here are some important findings from the judgment.

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