Decisions · 88308451
In re Erik Brunetti
Serial No. 88308451 · Decided 2022-08-22 · Other
What happened
The Board affirmed the refusal to register FUCK (standard characters) for backpacks, tote bags, fanny packs, luggage, sport bags and wallets, finding the marketplace awash in third-party bags and wallets ornamented with the ubiquitous word as a message customers buy for its sentiment, so it cannot indicate a single source and fails to function as a trademark.
The marks
Applicant
FUCK (standard characters)
All purpose sport bags, athletic bags, carrying bags, backpacks, book bags, carry-on bags, carryalls, duffel bags, fanny packs, luggage, shoulder bags, sports bags and packs, tote bags, waist bags and packs, and wallets (International Class 18)
Why this decision is significant
Precedential sequel to Iancu v. Brunetti holding that the ubiquitous word FUCK fails to function as a mark across four classes, and that the failure-to-function refusal is viewpoint neutral and unaffected by the Supreme Court’s invalidation of Section 2(a)'s scandalous-matter bar. It is the leading Board authority for refusing single vulgar/expressive words as widely-used commonplace 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
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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