(no subject)
US Trademark law has rules against allowing people to use primarily geographically descriptive terms as trademarks. Part of the test is that the term has to be a "name of a place known generally to the public"
So company tried to register "BAIKALSKAYA" as a name for a brand of vodka manufactured in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. It translates directly as "from Baikal", but when the registration was denied as geographically descriptive, argued in their brief to the court, that it "is common knowledge that the American public as a whole lacks even a general geographic knowledge, ranking near the bottom of nearly all surveys of geographic knowledge among industrialized nations. Many Americans could not find the Atlantic Ocean on a globe, and very few could name the five Great Lakes located in the United States."
(In re Joint Stock Company "Baik" 80 U.S.P.Q.2d 1305 (T.T.A.B. 2006)
WTG, folks. Piss off the judge by sounding like a snot and they'll rule against you even though you're totally right!
So company tried to register "BAIKALSKAYA" as a name for a brand of vodka manufactured in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. It translates directly as "from Baikal", but when the registration was denied as geographically descriptive, argued in their brief to the court, that it "is common knowledge that the American public as a whole lacks even a general geographic knowledge, ranking near the bottom of nearly all surveys of geographic knowledge among industrialized nations. Many Americans could not find the Atlantic Ocean on a globe, and very few could name the five Great Lakes located in the United States."
(In re Joint Stock Company "Baik" 80 U.S.P.Q.2d 1305 (T.T.A.B. 2006)
WTG, folks. Piss off the judge by sounding like a snot and they'll rule against you even though you're totally right!