Mark Registration Refused for Business Creating Charity Service

A trademark registration applicant can’t register a mark for a business that is in the “nascent stage,” the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said in a precedential opinion.

Alessandra Suuberg applied to register the mark “Have some decency” in connection with a charity she planned to start to facilitate health, wellness, and economic development. Suuberg failed to establish use of the mark in commerce, which is required to obtain a trademark registration, the TTAB said in the opinion.

The board cited the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case Couture v. Playdom Inc. in concluding that preparing ...