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ARTICLE · 28 JANUARY 2021

In 2020, How Often Did The TTAB Affirm Section 2(e)(1) Mere Descriptiveness Refusals?

Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
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I have again reviewed the TTAB's FOIA pages (now called the "TTAB Reading Room") in an attempt to estimate the percentage of Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusals that were...

United StatesIntellectual Property
John L. Welch
John L. Welch
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I have again reviewed the TTAB's FOIA pages (now called the "TTAB Reading Room") in an attempt to estimate the percentage of Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusals that were affirmed by the Board during the last calendar year (2020). I counted 83 refusals, of which 73 were affirmed and 10 reversed. That's an affirmance rate of about 88%, a five-point drop from last year's 93.93%. 

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Only one of the mere descriptiveness reversals was precedential: namely, the CO-OP case [TTABlogged here].

Here is a list of the 10 proposed marks (with application serial numbers) involved in the Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness reversals:

  • ORIGINAL GRAIN (87511343) 
  • ARTIZEN (87770413) 

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