{"id":2655,"date":"2013-06-08T17:24:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-08T21:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/?p=2655"},"modified":"2019-11-26T12:58:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T17:58:10","slug":"kc-brangs-oppositions-to-casella-wines-double-bracket-trademark-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/2013\/06\/uncategorized\/kc-brangs-oppositions-to-casella-wines-double-bracket-trademark-dismissed\/","title":{"rendered":"Trademark Opposition to \u201c[   ]\u201d Dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9774\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kraze-spiced-68x300.png\" alt=\"kraze \" width=\"68\" height=\"300\" \/>The Australian company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casellafamilybrands.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Casella Wines<\/a>, the winemaker of the popular wine Yellowtail\u00ae filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/tsdr.uspto.gov\/documentviewer?caseId=sn87189074&amp;docId=RFA20161004080338#docIndex=10&amp;page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trademark application for []<\/a>. Yes that\u2019s what they did, they applied for the trademark registration for just \u201cthe brackets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you look at some of their images online when you search their company you will see that most often when [yellow tail] is on the label it is enclosed by brackets (as you can see in the photo on this blog post).<\/p>\n<p>Well another beverage company KC Brang\u2019s Food &amp; Beverage Company LLC\u2019s filed two oppositions against the trademark application for the standard character \u201cdouble-bracket marks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And their oppositions were dismissed without prejudice by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/91203238-05-24-2013.pdf\">(KC Brang\u2019s Food &amp; Beverage Company LLC v. Casella Wines Pty. Limited, May 24, 2013, by the Board .PDF)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9770 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/KRA-ZE.pdf-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"[KRA-ZE] trademark\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/KRA-ZE.pdf-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/KRA-ZE.pdf.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The opposer, KC Brang\u2019s Food &amp; Beverage Company owns a registered trademark for\u00a0 [KRA-ZE] which uses the enclosure of brackets.<\/p>\n<p>Both the registered trademark for\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/yellow-tail-85743349.pdf\">[yellow tail] .PDF<\/a> and for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/KRA-ZE85248199.pdf\">[KRA-ZE] .PDF<\/a> are listed as standard character word marks and not as design marks. Clearly a bracket is considered a standard character.<\/p>\n<p>In my mind it\u2019s difficult to say that somebody should be allowed to have a registered mark that allows others to stop using brackets.<\/p>\n<p>But maybe the brackets alone could be a design mark that can be perceived by the public as identifying that specific company. But I believe you\u2019d have to show that you are using those <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9766\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/yellow-tail-1-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"yellow tail trademark\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/yellow-tail-1-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/yellow-tail-1.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>brackets alone.<\/p>\n<p>The central argument for this opposition was whether use of double brackets were merely descriptive \u201ccommon basic symbols\u201d that were not protectable or are inherently distinctive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Descriptiveness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The opposer\u2019s evidence of descriptiveness of the applicant\u2019s double-bracket marks consisted of an excerpt from The Chicago Manual of Style Online which states that brackets are used \u201cmainly to enclose material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>KC Brang\u2019s argued that it\u2019s own use of double brackets in connection with the mark [Kra-ze] helps \u201cthe average consumer [to] understand[s] the use of open and closed brackets describes the pronunciation of that brand name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea how those brackets help you pronounce the name. It has nothing to do with the descriptive nature of the mark in any event. A term is merely descriptive if it immediately conveys knowledge of a significant quality, characteristic, function, feature or purpose of the products and services it identifies.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Yellowtail owners, argued &#8220;that pronunciation wasn\u2019t relevant,\u201d and that the double-bracket marks are <strong>not descriptive<\/strong> of wine or alcoholic beverages nor \u201cconvey any information to the average purchaser about the nature, function, purpose or use of wine or alcoholic beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed that the brackets were not descriptive and therefore ruled in favor of Casella Wines.<\/p>\n<p>The next question the board he had to decide was <strong><em>&#8220;whether or not those brackets alone function as a trademark?&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Inherently distinctive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do the double-brackets function as a trademark? Or are the double-bracket \u201cfunctional punctuation\u201d as indicated by their dictionary definition and are they merely \u201cused to enclose words or figures so as to separate them from the context\u201d or to modify a quotation.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence showed that both the parties use brackets with other terms \u201cto separate their name brands from other text on labels, advertising literature, etc.\u201d which demonstrated that the \u201cbrackets function as described by their dictionary definition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Casella Wines, in a hope to register their double bracket Mark, argued that the double-bracket marks were inherently distinctive because \u201cthey do not communicate anything about the goods either directly or indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9776 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/YELLOW-TAIL-215x300.png\" alt=\"YELLOW TAIL\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/YELLOW-TAIL-215x300.png 215w, https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/YELLOW-TAIL.png 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/>critical inquiry in determining whether a designation functioned as a mark was how the designation would be <em>perceived by the relevant public<\/em>. To make this determination, specimens and other evidence of record showing how the designation was actually used in the marketplace must be reviewed.<\/p>\n<p>However, In this case, there was no evidence of the applicant\u2019s use in the record as the applications were filed under Section 1(b), intent-to-use, and the applicant\u2019s discovery responses indicated that it has not commenced use of the marks.<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of actual use of the double-bracket marks, the Board was unable to determine whether the double-bracket marks would be perceived by consumers as trademarks or as merely functional symbols of the written language.<\/p>\n<p>Everything was dismissed without prejudice which means in plain English they couldn\u2019t make their mind up now. <em>Which is typical <strong>red tape<\/strong> of a government proceeding.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So now even after all this time and money to argue the opposition we will have to wait until Casella Wines puts the double brackets on a bottle, submits their statement of use, receives a registration, KC Brang files a petition to cancel the registration and the same attorneys and Trial and Trademark Board members go through all the same arguments again before we get a decision!<\/p>\n<p>What do you think should happen with this mark?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian company Casella Wines, the winemaker of the popular wine Yellowtail\u00ae filed a trademark application for []. Yes that\u2019s what they did, they applied for the trademark registration for just \u201cthe brackets.\u201d If you look at some of their images online when you search their company you will see that most often when [yellow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":9779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1,26],"tags":[178,334,412,646],"class_list":["post-2655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trademarks","category-uncategorized","category-wine-trail-and-trademark-talk","tag-descriptive-trademark","tag-kc-brangs-food-beverage-company","tag-opposition","tag-yellow-tail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lotempiolaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}