In Re The Newbridge Cutlery Company
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Board) decision, concluding that
the trademark NEWBRIDGE HOME was not primarily geographically
descriptive of the goods because the location of the source of
goods, namely Newbridge, Ireland, was not a place generally known
to the American public. In Re The Newbridge Cutlery
Company, Case No. 13-1535 (Fed. Cir., Jan. 15, 2015) (Linn,
J.).
Newbridge Cutlery makes various types of housewares, kitchen
wares and silverware under the name NEWBRIDGE HOME. It sells
its products worldwide but its headquarters are in Newbridge,
Ireland. In October, 2010, Newbridge filed a trademark
application for its NEWBRIDGE HOME mark for various goods,
including housewares, kitchen wares and silverware. The
Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) rejected the application as
primarily geographically descriptive because of the name NEWBRIDGE
in the
