Granting Cancellation Petition, TTAB Finds SMART WALLET Generic For ..... Guess What?

The Board granted a petition for cancellation of a registration (issued in 2010) for the purported mark SMART WALLET for "wallets," on the ground of genericness. "Significant evidence" convinced the Board that "wallets containing RFID blocking are referred to and understood by the public as 'smart wallets' -a sub-group of wallets." Ekster Holding B.V. v. LE Holdings LLC, Cancellation No. 92076013 (January 6, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Cheryl S. Goodman).

The Board first found that the genus of goods at issue is "wallets," but it could "by definition, encompass more-narrowly defined goods or a sub-category such as wallets with technological and/or design features." The second part of the Marvin Ginn test requires a determination as to whether the term in question is understood by the relevant public primarily to refer to that genus. The relevant consumers consist of the public at large.