Decisions · 87345596
In re OEP Enterprises, Inc.
Serial No. 87345596 · Decided 2019-08-19 · Other
What happened
The Board refused to register the shape of a two-tier mesh-canopy umbrella as a trademark: the company’s own expired utility patent showed the design is functional (it vents wind), and its sales evidence — much of it under Cadillac and Lexus private labels — did not prove buyers see the shape itself as a brand.
The marks
Applicant
Product configuration mark: "a three-dimensional configuration of the goods, in the form of an umbrella with a two-tiered canopy, wherein the inner canopy consists mostly of mesh. The umbrella also has a handle, shaft, runner and ribs." Color is not claimed as a feature of the mark; the application drawing contains no broken lines.
"umbrellas; beach umbrellas; beach umbrellas; golf umbrellas; patio umbrellas," in International Class 18 (the term "beach umbrellas" is listed twice in the identification of goods)
Why this decision is significant
Precedential holding that an expired utility patent’s disclosures can standing alone prove functionality and rebut a design patent’s presumption of non-functionality; also applies the heightened product-configuration acquired-distinctiveness burden to form declarations and private-label sales.
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.
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