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ARTICLE · 12 NOVEMBER 2020

CAFC Affirms TTAB: Reelex Tangle-Free Cable Box Is Functional Under Section 2(e)(5)

Wolf Greenfield & Sacks
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks
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In a non-precedential opinion, the CAFC upheld the Board's decision affirming a Section 2(e)(5) functionality refusal of of the packaging designs shown below for "electric cables and wire.

United StatesIntellectual Property
John L. Welch
John L. Welch
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In a non-precedential opinion, the CAFC upheld the Board's decision affirming a Section 2(e)(5) functionality refusal of of the packaging designs shown below for "electric cables and wire. [TTABlogged here]. The appellate court found no legal error in the Board's functionality analysis, and further that substantial evidence supported the Board's findings that numerous features of the designs were "dictated by the utilitarian purpose they serve." Moreover, the Board found that applicant's own patents revealed "the functionality of significant aspects of the designs," and its advertising touted some of the features. In re My Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1282 (November 5, 2020) [not precedential].

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