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ARTICLE · 11 SEPTEMBER 2015

What Does It Take To Trademark Your Name?

McDermott Will & Emery
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Addressing the question of when a professional name can be protected as a trademark, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that the plaintiff doctor's name had not acquired that distinction.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Teri Nguyen
Teri Nguyen
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Tartell, M.D. v. South Florida Sinus and Allergy Center, Inc., et al.

Addressing the question of when a professional name can be protected as a trademark, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that the plaintiff doctor's name had not acquired that distinction. Tartell, M.D. v. South Florida Sinus and Allergy Center, Inc., et al., Case No. 14-13178 (11th Cir., June 23, 2014) (Pryor, J.).

This story started in 1998 when plaintiff Dr. Paul Tartell and defendant Dr. Lee Mandel practiced together as "Tartell & Mandel, M.D., LLC under the name South Florida Sinus and Allergy Center (SFSAC). In 2011, their joint practice ended and the doctors went their separate ways. After their separation, Dr. Mandel, without Dr. Tartell's knowledge, incorporated under the name of their old practice, obtained the domain name sfsac.com, registered six other domain names that used some variation of Dr. Tartell's name (ptartell.com, paultartellmd.net, paultartellmd.com,

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