Stella McCartney’s ‘Fur Free Fur’ Tag Gathers Steam
Stella McCartney can register "Fur Free Fur" as a trademark.
Stella McCartney Ltd. persuaded a panel of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that the company can register "Fur Free Fur" as a trademark for its clothing, handbags and other accessories.
The board's finding on March 29 reverses a decision by a trademark examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, who had rejected the company's application by deeming the alliterative label merely descriptive, and not distinct enough to warrant trademarking.
[...]
"In a court of law, a judge considering a dispute over the mark could conceivably invalidate the registration, or find that it didn't have enough distinctiveness to be registered," said David Perry, co-chair of Blank Rome LLP's intellectual property and technology practice group.
"Stella McCartney’s ‘Fur Free Fur’ Tag Gathers Steam," by Sindhu Sundar was published in WWD on April 3, 2019.