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Precedential No. 2: TTAB Cancels Supplemental Registration for Shape of Culvert Unit Due To Functionality

In a 57-page decision that seemed even longer, the Board granted a petition for cancellation of a Supplemental Registration for the product configuration shown below for "precast concrete bridge unit for constructing a bridge or culvert," finding the design to be de jure functional under Sections 2(e)(5) ad 23(c). The Board gave "heavy weight" to five utility patents that showed "the functionality of each of the features claimed to be respondent's trademark," and little weight to "respondent's evidence and speculation about other alternative designs." Kistner Concrete Products, Inc. v. Contech Arch Technologies, Inc., Cancellation No. 92048733 (January 25, 2011) [precedential].According to the challenged registration, "[t]he mark consists of the configuration of a one-piece open bottom bridge unit, with parallel spaced vertical side walls connected by an arched top wall and having sharp outside corners and a width substantially greater than its length...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on February 07, 2011 (boomark / email).