TTABlog Test: Must "BARK" Be Disclaimed In "BIG BARK" For Tree Care Services?

The USPTO refused to register the mark BIG BARK for tree care services, unless the applicant disclaimed the word BARK. Applicant Corporate Green contended that a disclaimer is not required because BIG BARK is a unitary mark. Was applicant barking up the wrong tree? How do you think this appeal came out? In re Corporate Green, LLC, Application Serial No. 87519612 (June 30, 2021) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Marc A. Bergsman).

The Board had no doubt that "bark" is descriptive of tree care services, and Corporate Green didn't contend otherwise. [Personally, I have my doubts - ed.]. So the Board turned to the question of whether BIG BARK is a unitary mark.

A mark is unitary if its elements are unseparable. A unitary mark "has a distinct meaning of its own independent of the meaning of its constituent elements." It must create "a single and distinct commercial impression." [In short, I know it when I see it. - ed.].