In re Oppedahl & Larson LLP
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
373 F.3d 1171 (2004)
Relevant factsFree
Oppedahl & Larson LLP (Oppedahl) applied to register "patents.com" for its website selling software that tracked the status of patent records. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the application as merely descriptive, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) affirmed, reasoning that adding ".com" to a descriptive term didn't make it eligible for protection. Oppedahl appealed the Board's decision.
IssueFree
Whether a court must look at a mark and its commercial impression as a whole when determining whether the mark is descriptive and eligible to be protected under trademark law.
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