IP Law Daily, TRADEMARK—TTAB: Croatian word for ‘lip’ must be disclaimed in lipstick mark, (Jun 27, 2025)

By Steven Melendez

The Board found that Croatian is a "common, modern language" that readers of the mark would translate to English.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) affirmed a refusal to register the mark KECA’S USNA for "cosmetics" unless USNA, Croatian for "lip," is disclaimed (In re Walls, No. 98049431 (T.T.A.B. June 25, 2025)).

Monica Walls sought to register the KECA’S USNA (in standard characters) for “Cosmetics” in International Class 3. An examining attorney refused to allow the registration unless “USNA,” Croatian for "lip," was disclaimed, saying the term is merely descriptive of Walls' goods, which include lipstick or lip gloss.

"The doctrine of foreign equivalents provides that foreign words from common, modern languages familiar to an appreciable segment of American consumers be translated into English to determine, among other issues, mere descriptiveness," according to the TTAB ruling.

Under Federal Circuit court precedent, the TTAB said, the "burden is on the party opposing translation to show that it is unlikely the ordinary American purchaser would stop and translate the word into its English equivalent." Among the considerations in making that determination is the "capability of the US population" to make the translation and whether the mark would ordinary be translated by someone in the U.S. population "with ordinary sensibilities."

Walls argued that Croatian is an obscure language, not on the list of languages most spoken in the United States and spoken by about 53,000 in the home in the United States. And while the examining attorney argued that other Balkan languages in the "Serbian-Croatian language family (i.e., Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Macedonian languages)" use the same word for lip, Walls said that was incorrect and that the languages should not be grouped together. Even if they are grouped together, there are still too few speakers to say the language family is common in the United States, Walls argued.

But the TTAB panel cited sources, including a Serbian grammar book and the Encyclopedia Brittanica, to find that the languages are generally mutually intelligible, even if some use the Latin alphabet shared with English and some use the Cyrillic alphabet. The panel also said precedent holds that it's sufficient to find an "appreciable" number of Americans can translate the term, with no precedent from the Federal Circuit or the TTAB setting a precise minimum number.

Evidence shows the language family is taught in at least eight major universities in the United States, a translation service exists to serve U.S. businesses communicating with counterparts in Croatia, and plenty of smartphone apps exist to learn to speak Croatian.

"Based on the evidence of the record as a whole, we find that Croatian is a common, modern language," the TTAB panel ruled.

And a "purchaser with ordinary sensibilities" would translate USNA to lip, since it's a simple and common word and relevant to the lip cosmetics being sold. Those consumers will then perceive the name as being descriptive of the product, the TTAB found, upholding the decision to refuse registration unless USNA is disclaimed.

The Case is Serial No. 98049431.

Judge: Goodman, C.

Attorneys: Katherine M. Bond (Cislo & Thomas LLP) for Monica Walls. Michael FitzSimons for the USPTO.

Cases: Trademark USPTO