Seattle Trademark Lawyer

On March 27, Seattle-based gourmet baker Partners, A Tasteful Choice Company won a four-and-a-half year dispute with Keebler Co. before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board for the right to register the mark ALL-AMERICAN in connection with its cookies and crackers. Keebler claimed the mark was merely laudatory and, therefore, not registrable on the Principal Register without a showing of secondary meaning. Partners responded that the mark was entitled to immediate protection because it was suggestive.

In particular, Keebler argued “All-American” is synonymous with “best.” Partners argued that that definition is limited to sports, e.g., an “All-American football player,” and that the phrase does not immediately convey anything in particular about cookies or crackers. The Board agreed with Partners and dismissed the opposition.

It found: “out of all the many attributes that may be associated with ‘all-American’ for food products, ‘the best’ is not one of them. There is no evidence to support opposer’s contention that ‘all-American’ cookies would be thought of as ‘the best’ cookies.”

The Board added: “The record does show that one of the meanings that may be associated with ‘all-American’ for food products is ‘typically American.’ However, we do not find that this meaning is merely descriptive of food products.”

The Board concluded: “At most, the term has some vaguely laudatory meanings suggesting an association with American ideals and all that is traditionally and typically American, and to be sure, the term has been frequently been used and registered for those meanings. But in order to have an idea of the nature of the product’s qualities, characteristics or attributes, a consumer needs additional information. This makes the term suggestive.”

Full disclosure: STL’s publisher represented Partners in the proceeding.