IP Law Daily, TRADEMARK—TTAB: Proposed TUMBLOG mark denied registration as generic, (May 24, 2023)

By Kevin M. Finson, J.D.

The applied-for mark TUMBLOG was generic because consumers would likely perceive it as the name for the genus of short form internet blog services.

In opposing an application to register the mark TUMBLOG, Tumblr, Inc., showed that the mark was generic for the applicant’s services of “[p]roviding customized on-line web pages and data feeds featuring user-defined information, which includes blog posts, new media content, other on-line content, and on-line web links to other websites,” the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has decided. The evidence established that consumers would see the mark as referring to the genus of services offered and not as a source indicator (Tumblr, Inc. v. Kindy, May 19, 2023, Hudis, J.).

Mark David-Dale Kindy sought registration on the Principal Register of the standard character mark TUMBLOG for “[p]roviding customized on-line web pages and data feeds featuring user-defined information, which includes blog posts, new media content, other on-line content, and on-line web links to other websites,” in International Class 42. Tumblr, Inc. (Tumblr) opposed registration on the grounds that the proposed mark was generic, merely descriptive without acquired distinctiveness, or that it so resembled the registered TUMBLR marks as to cause confusion, mistake, or deception.

Genericness. Tumblr argued, and Kindy did not contest, that the relevant genus of goods identified in the application was “providing customized on-line web pages and data feeds featuring user-defined information.” The Board found that the relevant purchasing public consisted of “members of the general public who do or may take advantage of the services provided by blogging websites, including customized web pages and data feeds provided by such website.”

Tumblr introduced dictionary definitions, news articles, and the expert testimony of a linguistics professor to support the proposition that the word “tumblog” was widely used as an abbreviation for “tumblelog”, a term coined in 2005 and meaning a short form blog consisting of texts, images, videos, or links. Kindy presented no evidence to rebut Tumblr’s position, but offered only legal argument. According to the Board, the evidence showed that “the relevant public understands a ‘tumblog,’ a contraction from ‘tumblelog’ whose etymology is from the terms ‘tumble’ and ‘log,’ to be an alternative generic term for a microblog, that is, a specific form of a blog whose content is typically shorter, allowing users to exchange smaller elements of textual content (paragraphs or short sentences), images, video links, or links to other websites.”

Concluding that the mark TUMBLOG would be perceived by consumers as referring to the genus of the identified services, the Board sustained the opposition on the genericness ground and did not reach Tumblr’s remaining grounds for opposition.

The Case is Opposition No. 91252639.

Attorneys: Thomas L. Holt (Perkins Coie LLP) for Tumblr, Inc. Mark David-Dale Kindy, pro se.

Companies: Tumblr, Inc.

Cases: Trademark USPTO