TTAB Finds BREATHLESS Mark Is Registrable

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sought to register the mark BREATHLESS for “promoting public awareness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis [‘IPF’], its symptoms, its prevention and its treatment.”  The Examining Attorney refused registration on the basis that the mark was merely descriptive of Boehringer’s services.  The TTAB reversed.

The Board noted that one dictionary defines “breathless” as “[b]reathing with difficulty, gasping” and “excited or tense, often to the point of holding the breath: a breathless audience.”  Boehringer argued its applied-for mark was suggestive, rather than merely descriptive, applying either definition.  According to Boehringer, to connect promotional awareness and information services with the concept that IPF causes patients to become “breathless” requires a multi-step reasoning process.  Applying the second definition, Boehringer argued BREATHLESS was a double entendre because it refers to the anticipation patients and