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ARTICLE · 30 SEPTEMBER 2020

TTAB Finds "TRIPLE CLEANED CORN" Generic For . . . . Guess What?

Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
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The Board affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark TRIPLE CLEANED CORN, finding it to be generic for "animal feed of corn."

United StatesIntellectual Property
John L. Welch
John L. Welch
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The Board affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark TRIPLE CLEANED CORN, finding it to be generic for "animal feed of corn." For the sake of completeness, the Board also considered and upheld a refusal to register on the ground of mere descriptiveness and lack of acquired distinctiveness. In re Southern Seed & Feed, LLC, Serial No. 87424601 (September 24, 2020) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Albert Zervas).

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Genericness: The Board first observed that ""[A] term [may be] generic if the relevant public understands the term to refer to part of the claimed genus of goods or services, even if the public does not understand the term to refer to the broad genus as a w hole." In re Cordua Rests., Inc., 823 F.3d 594, 118 USPQ2d 1632, 1638 (Fed. Cir. 2016).

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