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Another WYHA? TTAB Affirms 2(e)(4) Surname Refusal of "MERIWETHER" for Cabinetry

The Board affirmed a Section 2(e)(4) refusal to register the mark MERIWETHER for cabinetry, finding it to be primarily merely a surname. Applicant Masco argued that the mark has non-surname significance as the first name of explorer Meriwether Lewis, but that argument, unlike Lewis, went nowhere. In re Masco Builder Cabinet Group, Serial No. 77309908 (June 15, 2009) [not precedential].Meriwether LewisExamining Attorney Dominic J. Ferraiuolo proffered more than 300 listings for persons with the surname MERIWETHER in the United States ("not an especially rare surname," observed the Board). The mark has the "look and sound" of a surname, the Board opined, and "does not look like a coined term or an acronym, nor anything else but a surname."Based on these findings, we find, prima facie, that MERIWETHER is primarily merely a surname...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on July 08, 2009 (boomark / email).