No Trademark for Dessert Company’s ‘Malai’ Ice Cream, Board Says

An ice cream distributor can’t register its “Malai” brand because consumers understand it as a core ingredient, a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal said.

Twenty Two Desserts LLC failed to rebut a finding that the Hindi word refers to a type of cream, even to English speakers, and was too generic to be registered, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said in an Aug. 6 precedential decision.

The generic finding shows that although ingredient names aren’t necessarily ineligible for trademark registration, a simple reference to a “key aspect or subcategory” of a product is unprotectable. It also shows that ...