Decisions · 87186780
In re Recreational Equipment, Inc.
Serial No. 87186780 · Decided 2020-11-20 · Other
What happened
Refusal reversed — the Board allowed REI to move forward with registering CO-OP for bicycles and bicycle parts, holding that proving CO-OP merely describes REI’s status as a cooperative business was not enough, by itself, to show the word describes anything about the bicycles, and there was no evidence of how buyers would understand CO-OP on those goods.
The marks
Applicant
CO-OP
"Bicycles, bicycle seats, bicycle wheels, bicycle tires, bicycle handlebars, bicycle forks, bicycle handle bar stems," all in International Class 12
Why this decision is significant
Precedential TTAB decision that squarely rejects any per se rule equating descriptiveness of a product’s source/provider with descriptiveness of the goods, and clarifies that evidence of consumer perception in context is required — a frequently useful standard for Section 2(e)(1) appeals involving entity-identifier or source-descriptive terms.
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
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