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. The panel disagreed, saying that the way the brand uses the word “fur” in the label means both “animal fur” and “imitation fur,” which puts the consumer to work in deducing its full meaning. In other words, it’s just interesting enough a label on faux-fur that makes it “suggestive,” which could merit trademark status, rather than something more straightforward and “descriptive,” which may not.    “The two different meanings of the term ‘fur’ within applicant’s single mark creates a logical paradox,” Administrative Trademark Judge Thomas Shaw wrote in the board’s opinion. “By way of analogy, applicant’s mark is the ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ of trademarks: It suggests that the goods are both fur-free and made of fur at the same time.” A representative for Stella

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More...

from WWDWWD https://ift.tt/2VhFts8