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ARTICLE · 21 NOVEMBER 2019

Dot-Com Hits The Supreme Court

Ward and Smith, P.A
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The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it has granted certiorari in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., a case about whether the addition of ".com"...

United StatesIntellectual Property
Erica Rogers
Erica Rogers

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The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it has granted certiorari in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., a case about whether the addition of ".com" (a top-level domain name or "TLD") affects consumer perception of an otherwise generic term.

Booking.com B.V. ("Booking.com") is before the Supreme Court after lower federal courts reversed the decisions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("Appeal Board") to refuse Booking.com's applications to register its trademarks.  The refusal to register was based on the federal law governs trademarks, the Lanham Act.  

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