In 2012, Booking.com B.V. (“Booking.com”) filed four trademark applications for the mark Booking.com for services in class 39 – travel agency services – and class 43 – making hotel reservations. The USPTO initially rejected all four applications on the ground that BOOKING.COM is generic as applied to the relevant services and, in the alternative, that the mark is merely descriptive and that Plaintiff had failed to establish acquired distinctiveness. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) then affirmed the four refusals of registration for the same reasons. Booking.com filed this civil action challenging the denial by TTAB. In determining whether… Read more