Precedential No. 12: TTAB Finds NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES Merely Descriptive, Not Generic, For Auto Racing

The Board sustained an opposition to registration of the mark NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES, finding it merely descriptive of, but not generic for, "entertainment services, namely, arranging and conducting automobile racing events and sanctioning, supervising, and officiating of automobile races" [SERIES disclaimed]. Applicant USAC asserted a Morehouse defense based on its ownership of a registration for the mark NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP for the same services, but the Board pointed out that this "prior registration" defense is unavailable on the issue of whether a descriptive mark has acquired distinctiveness "because of the overriding public interest in precluding the registration of a merely descriptive designation." Performance Open Wheel Racing, Inc. v. United States Auto Club Inc., Opposition No. 91229632 (June 5, 2019) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Marc A. Bergsman).