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WYHA? TTAB Affirms Mere Descriptiveness Refusal of "COLLEGIATE COMMUNITY FINANCIAL" for Credit Union Services

In an enervating ruling, the Board affirmed a Section 2(e)(1) refusal to register the mark COLLEGIATE COMMUNITY FINANCIAL, finding it merely descriptive of "credit union services." Would you have appealed? In re Florida State University Credit Union, Serial No. 77415033 (July 12, 2010) [not precedential].Examining Attorney Matt Einstein relied on dictionary definitions of the constituent words and on third-party registrations containing disclaimers of one or more of those words, in arguing that the subject mark immediately describes the intended users and the function of FSU's services: "the mark merely describes that applicant offers financial services to a collegiate community."FSU argued that the mark is a coined term, that the three words are not normally used together, and that there is no evidence of any third-party use of the phrase COLLEGIATE COMMUNITY FINANCIAL...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on August 05, 2010 (boomark / email).