Booking.com: An Example Of Domain Name Marks Acquiring Distinctiveness In Thailand

Trademarks that consist of a combination of a generic word and a top-level domain name, such as ".com," are usually regarded as not registrable by trademark registrars. However, recent cases in the United States and in Thailand have proved that this premise is not always valid. In some instances, the combination of a generic word and a domain name only make the mark descriptive, but such a mark may still be registrable if the applicant can prove that it has achieved secondary meaning in that jurisdiction.

In late June 2020, in Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V., 591 U.S. (2020), the Supreme Court of the United States decided in favor of Booking.com, one of the world's leading digital travel companies, and rejected the United States Patent and Trademark Office's argument regarding the generic nature of the mark. In the judgment, Justice Ginsburg determined that consumers do not in fact perceive the term "Booking.com" as a generic name and that the