Decisions · 86439012
In re Hikari Sales USA, Inc.
Serial No. 86439012 · Decided 2019-03-29 · Other
What happened
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board upheld the refusal to register ALGAE WAFERS for fish food, finding the term is a common name for a type of fish food (wafer-shaped food containing algae for algae-eating fish) rather than a brand name, and that Hikari failed to show consumers had come to recognize it as Hikari’s brand despite over 25 years of use.
The marks
Applicant
ALGAE WAFERS
Fish food (International Class 31)
Why this decision is significant
Precedential decision providing important guidance on (1) the inapplicability of consumer surveys to genericness of ordinary-English compound terms, (2) proper TMEP examination procedure when applicant files on Section 2(f), and (3) the heightened evidence standard for acquired distinctiveness of highly descriptive marks; frequently citable for the survey/genericness rule.
Research significance is Trademark Valet's editorial rating of how useful a decision is to practitioners. It is not a statement of precedential weight — that is the separate Precedential field, which comes from the Board.
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The original record
Read the opinion and every filing on the Board's own docket. The summary above is our paraphrase, not a quotation from the opinion. The opinion is the authority.
Who checked this
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Provenance — Written from the opinion; research-significance tier confirmed.
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