In re Quadrillion Publishing Ltd.
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
2000 TTAB LEXIS 562 (2000)
Relevant factsFree
Quadrillion Publishing Limited (Quadrillion) applied to register the mark "BRAMLEY," but the examiner found 433 entries for the surname Bramley in a surname database and no entry for it in standard American dictionaries, and rejected the application as primarily a surname. Quadrillion offered evidence of a small English village called Bramley and an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, but the examiner maintained the rejection, and Quadrillion appealed.
IssueFree
Whether a trademark that is primarily merely a surname is registrable.