Comments on: Hotels.com is Generic Term Rules Trademark Appeals Board

By: Can the Realtor Trademark Fall into the Public Domain?

Can the Realtor Trademark Fall into the Public Domain? — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:02:58 +0000

[…] Hotels.com is Generic Term Rules Trademark Appeals Board […]

By: hp laptop buyout

hp laptop buyout — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:29:48 +0000

this is one of the amazing sites i have found via google and the site likes promising !! good luck keep it up

By: I Am BuilderBest

I Am BuilderBest — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:31:49 +0000

I just got a Status 10 Lock NAF / WIPO DISPUTE from GoDaddy…and they have frozen a domain name I have used for over 3 years. How can they do this…ya so a company has a trademark on a domain…but havent said anything for 3 years after I built up my company around it.

I hope Wells Fargo burns for this. They are a cruel cruel company filled with cruel cruel upper mgmt. More details on my brand new blog - www.IamBuilderBest.com

By: phd

phd — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:24:30 +0000

Excellent points. I had forgot that Redfin applied as a real estate brokerage.

By: sellsius°

sellsius° — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 14:03:24 +0000

Excellent points phd.
Re: confusingly similar
If you recall, Redfin applied for registration of a mark used for brokerage services. A blog about real estate, technology and web 2.0 startups may be in a different class. I agree that 2.0 is probably in the danger zone but I think 2.x is a safe harbor for the blog.

Re: Dillutive
It normally requires a stronger mark to win on this basis. I don’t think Redfin’s Real estate 2.0 is that strong a mark to warrant dillutive protection. Just my opinion.

I was registering a mark for a client who used his first name in the mark. The product was food supplements. A previoulsy registered mark for a food store had the same name in their mark. Despite an initial office action denying the registration on confusingly similar grounds, I got it through.

By: phd

phd — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:47:58 +0000

I agree that Redfin has an uphill battle, but you never know what you’re going to get with the TTAB and trademark law. The hotels.com decision doesn’t surprise me though, since if I remember correctly, case law hasn’t favored generic terms that add .com at the end.

There are a host of “2.0″ trademarks in the pipeline right now (Business 2.0, Health Care 2.0, Sports 2.0, Security 2.0). We’ll just have to see how they play out.

Web 2.0 indeed has “Web” disclaimed. So does Dialtone 2.0. Bridges 2.0 and People 2.0 look like they are in the clear without a disclaimer.

With or without the disclaimer of “real estate”, Redfin won’t have free reign to bully people with the use of the term real estate. They’ll only be able to enforce it against marks that are “confusingly similar” or “dilutive”. Unfortunately, real estate 2.x still probably falls in the danger zone of a court battle.

Let’s hope the TTAB changes its mind on the “2.0″ phenomenon.