Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Remember Starbucks’ TTAB tangle with the Rat City Rollergirls? (See STL posts here and here.) Looks like another roller-rink trademark dispute may get going.

Roller derbier Colleen Bell, a/k/a “Crackerjack,” applied to register her nickname as a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in connection with “Entertainment services, namely, participation in roller derby competitions; Entertainment services, namely, personal appearances by a roller derby competitor.”

On April 8, Frito-Lay North America, Inc., filed a notice of opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposing her application. Frito-Lay cited its prior registrations for CRACKER JACK and opposes on grounds of likelihood of confusion and dilution.

Frito-Lay also argues that the applied-for mark is merely descriptive, alleging: “The word CRACKERJACK is defined as ‘a person or thing that shows market ability or excellence.’”

The Starbucks-Rat City case never went anywhere. It’ll be interesting to see if this one goes a few laps around the track.

The case cite is Frito-Lay North America, Inc. v. Bell, No. 91189641 (TTAB).