Precedential No. 11: Specimen Webpages Fail The "Display-Associated-With-the Goods" Test, Says TTAB

There's nothing like a TTAB specimen-of-use case to cure your insomnia. Applicant MN Apparel applied to register the mark MOSTLY MN ONE WITH EVERYTHING for t-shirts, caps, and the like, but ran into two refusals aimed at its specimens of use: mutilation and failure to show use as a trademark. In a less than pellucid opinion, the Board rejected the first refusal but affirmed the second. In re MN Apparel LLC, Serial No. 87876633 (May 14 2021) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Peter W. Cataldo).

Mutilation: In a Section 1(a) application, the drawing of the mark must be a "substantially exact representation of the mark as used on or in connection with the goods." Trademark Rule 2.51(a).