When Five Years of Use Isn’t Enough: The High Bar for Highly Descriptive Marks
Patent – Patently-O 2025-04-09
Summary:
by Dennis Crouch
Federal Circuit has affirmed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's (TTAB) finding that "iVoterGuide" and "iVoterGuide.com" are highly descriptive terms that failed to acquire distinctiveness. Heritage Alliance, AFA Action, Inc. v. The American Policy Roundtable, No. 2024-1155 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 9, 2025). The ruling maintains the dismissal of Heritage's opposition to American Policy Roundtable's (APR) applications to register "iVoters" and "iVoters.com" as trademarks.
This case presents a classic trademark problem: When is a mark distinctive enough to receive protection, especially when it describes the service being offered?
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