# TTAB Rulings

> Every Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision we track, with analysis of the notable ones.

- [A phrase used only as a document's heading is not a service mark](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-international-first-committee-association/index.md): A phrase used only as the heading of a values statement reads as its title, not as a service mark; DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE refused. (2026-09-28)
- [A surname plus a word for the business is still just a surname](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-hansen-honey-farm/index.md): A common surname followed by a phrase that names the kind of business behind the goods is still primarily merely a surname; here, HANSEN HONEY FARM for honey. (2026-09-22)
- [A word for a product category can describe the services built around it](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-agbio/index.md): A term that names a category of products can describe broadly identified services built around them; BIOINPUT refused for agricultural services. (2026-09-15)
- [A mark an employee first uses on the job belongs to the employer](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/olsman-mackenzie-peacock-wallace-v-thomas/index.md): Ownership follows first use, and use made as an employee is presumed to be the employer's. A brand idea brought to a new job, a domain name and friendly emails about "your logo" will not overcome that presumption. Anyone who wants to keep a mark through a change of employer should use it in their o… (2026-09-10)
- [Third-party marks using a translation do not show a foreign-word mark is weak](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/cielo-e-terra-v-hoteles-y-vinedos-del-valle-de-guadalupe/index.md): Applicants who argue that a cited mark is weak must show third parties using the shared term itself, not its English meaning. And a handful of web captures will not prove a crowded field in a large national market, because the Board ties the number of uses needed to the number of sellers in that ma… (2026-09-03)
- [An online-publication identification can cover an owner's own journal](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-american-aging-association/index.md): An identification limited to online journal publication can cover publishing one's own journal online; GEROSCIENCE specimen refusal reversed. (2026-08-26)
- [Naming a product by its defining technique can make the name generic](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-caretaker-medical/index.md): The name of a technique that defines a type of product can be generic for the product, even with a single seller; PULSE DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS refused for patient monitors. (2026-08-07)
- [Conceding no intent for listed services in a trial brief forfeits them](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/novel-brands-usa-v-zerodensity-yazilim/index.md): Conceding in a trial brief that there is no intent for some listed services forfeits them, and deleting them then comes too late; REALITY ENGINE opposition sustained. (2026-07-27)
- [Patterns others in the field already use are ornament, judged class by class](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-ralphs-famous-italian-ices-franchise/index.md): The Board measures a pattern's distinctiveness separately for every class in an application, and a handful of third-party users can be enough to defeat a basic design. Once many others use the same ornament, sales, advertising spend and years of use do little, and calling those users infringers doe… (2026-06-25)
- [A famous athlete’s nickname can support both Section 2(a) and 2(c) refusals](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-wemby-corporation/index.md): In a precedential decision, the TTAB affirmed refusals of WEMBY for athletic apparel because the record showed WEMBY was Victor Wembanyama’s nickname, pointed uniquely and unmistakably to him, and would make buyers presume a connection. The same record also made written consent necessary under Sect… (2026-06-24)
- [A lapsed registration's years beside a cited mark do not help the refiling](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-textnow/index.md): The Strategic Partners exception lets a long-registered applicant overcome a §2(d) citation, but only while that registration is alive and beyond a priority attack. Once a registration lapses for want of a Section 8 declaration, a new application is examined against today's register, and for foreig… (2026-06-23)
- [Unanswered admission requests can void a use-based registration](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/super-kings-international-v-shenzhen-bmx-network-technology/index.md): Ignoring requests for admission can concede nonuse before the filing date and void a use-based registration; two SUPERKING registrations cancelled. (2026-06-05)
- [Showing a new brand before it launches does not count as use in commerce](https://distinctive-mark.com/rulings/in-re-everwise-credit-union/index.md): Reexamination lets anyone challenge a registration on the ground that the mark was not really in use when the owner said it was. This precedent shows that a specimen can look acceptable and still fail, because the Board will read it against the owner's later announcements and the absence of any oth… (2026-04-29)