Harley Davidson v. Grottanelli
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
164 F.3d 806 (1999)
Relevant factsFree
Grottanelli (defendant) ran a motorcycle repair shop called "The Hog Farm." Harley Davidson (plaintiff) sued for common-law trademark infringement, claiming the word "HOG" was its trademark for its motorcycles. Dictionaries defined "hog" as a term for a large motorcycle generally, and the media had used the word this way since as early as 1935, long before it became specifically tied to Harley Davidson in the public's mind.
IssueFree
Whether a generic word that the public comes to associate with a specific manufacturer can acquire trademark significance when applied to the very type of product the word generically describes.