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WYHA? "MANWEAR" Merely Descriptive of Retail Men's Clothing

We haven't had many WYHAs lately, what with all those Hot Stove League cases, so let's take a look at this one. Webid Consulting, based in London, sought to register the mark MANWEAR for "online retail stores featuring men's clothing and accessories and small leather goods from suppliers other than applicant." Examining Attorney Brendan D. McCauley issued a Section 2(e)(1) refusal on the ground of mere descriptiveness. The TTAB affirmed. How would you have argued the appeal? In re Webid Consulting Ltd., Serial No. 77397586 (December 10, 2009) [not precedential].Not surprisingly, the Examining Attorney relied on dictionary definitions of "man" and "wear," as well as on various webpages using the term "manwear" to refer to men's clothing. He also submitted excerpts from foreign websites, but most of them appeared to be "from those in the clothing industry who are poorly translating another language into English...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on December 14, 2009 (boomark / email).