Aside from a little static, yesterday's case USPTO v.
Booking.com went off without a hitch—the first
telephonic argument before the US Supreme Court, necessitated in
this age of COVID-19. Novelty was not limited to the telephonic
appearance of the Court and parties: the legal issue presented
itself required the Court to square old-fashioned statutory text
and case law with the modern, plugged-in world.
Earlier Proceedings
The central question in the case was whether adding
".com" to an otherwise generic term somehow transforms
that term into a trademark. In particular, at issue was the
registrability of BOOKING.COM, the domain name that points to
Booking.com's popular Internet reservation website. Nearly a
decade ago, Booking.com applied to register this term for use in
connection with its online hotel reservation services, but the
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) refused
registration. The agency concluded that "booking.com" was
generic as applied
