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Distinctive Mark™Trademark News & Analysis

TTAB Rulings: September 2026

Every Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision we tracked in September 2026, week by week.

Latest decisions

September 2026

5 decisions · Week by week, precedential first
Issue
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Week of September 28, 2026

1 decision
  1. In re International FIRST Committee AssociationFailure to function · Ex parte appeal
    Refusal affirmed

Week of September 21, 2026

1 decision
  1. In re Hansen Honey Farm§2(e)(4) · Ex parte appeal
    Refusal affirmed

Week of September 14, 2026

1 decision
  1. In re AgBio LTDA§2(e)(1) · Ex parte appeal
    Refusal affirmed

Week of September 7, 2026

1 decision · 1 precedential
  1. Precedential

    A mark an employee first uses on the job belongs to the employer

    Olsman, MacKenzie, Peacock & Wallace, P.C. v. Emily Grace Thomas · Opposition · Opposition No. 91272167 · Non-ownership (application void, §1(a)); fraud and §2(d) not reached

    A mark that an employee develops and first uses within the scope of employment is presumed to belong to the employer, even if the employee thought of it before being hired. Conceiving a mark and registering a domain name create no rights of their own.

    Opposition sustained (non-ownership)Read the decision

Week of August 31, 2026

1 decision · 1 precedential
  1. Precedential

    Third-party marks using a translation do not show a foreign-word mark is weak

    Cielo e Terra, S.p.A. v. Hoteles y Viñedos del Valle de Guadalupe S.A. de C.V. · Opposition · Opposition No. 91287216 · Likelihood of confusion, §2(d); DuPont factor 6 (third-party marks, foreign equivalents)

    Third-party marks that share only an English translation of the parties' common term, not the term itself, do not show that the term is conceptually weak. And no fixed number of third-party uses makes a crowded field: how many are enough depends on the size of the market for the goods.

    Opposition sustainedRead the analysis