Petitioner Capital City asserted that "mumbo" is a term used in the Washington, D.C. area since a least the early 1960's, to identify a type of condiment. After it adopted the term to describe a type of sauce, Capital City received a cease-and-desist letter from Respondent Select Brands, based in Chicago.
There was no real dispute that the genus of good at issue is barbeque sauce, and the relevant public consists of "consumers and potential consumers of barbeque sauce."
Petitioner's evidence consisted of printouts from six different retail websites, one Facebook page, and a website called "The Sauces." These materials evidenced use of a half-dozen different sauces called "mumbo sauce." One website stated that Mumbo Sauce is a "very popular sauce in the DC area." [Hearsay! - ed]. The Board was not impressed.
Although the aforementioned evidence indicates some generic use of the term “Mumbo” in connection with sauces, this evidence is of limited probative value for several reasons. First, the number of uses by third parties may be considered minimal inasmuch as the materials are drawn from seven different websites and one Facebook page. Second, there is no evidence showing the extent of exposure to these uses, i.e., there is no indication whether these are relatively obscure websites nor is there any way to determine the number of bottles, if any, of “Mumbo” sauce that have been sold by third parties. That is, there is no testimony or corroborating evidence showing that the aforementioned third-party use of the term “Mumbo” is so extensive such that we can conclude that the relevant consuming public recognizes “Mumbo” primarily as a generic reference for a type of barbeque sauce.
Respondent's evidence established its "serious efforts" to police improper uses of its MUMBO mark. [What does that have to do with genericness? - ed.].
The Board concluded that petitioner had failed to meet its burden to prove genericness by a preponderance of the evidence.
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TTABlog note: Some of petitioner's proposed evidence was excluded for procedural reasons. What vehicle might petitioner employ to appeal from this decision and at the same time have the opportunity to submit additional evidence?
Text Copyright John L. Welch 2013.
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