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US Supreme Court rules in favor of Booking.com
By Ferraiuoli LLC
Booking.com, an enterprise that maintains a travel-reservation website by the same name, sought federal registration of marks including the term “Booking.com.” Concluding that “Booking.com” is a generic name for online hotel-reservation services, the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) refused registration. Booking.com sought judicial review, and the District Court determined that “Booking.com”—unlike the term “booking” standing alone—is not generic. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding no error in the District Court’s assessment of how consumers perceive the term “Booking.com.” The appellate court also rejected the PTO’s contention that, as a rule, combining a generic term like “booking” with “.com” yields a generic composite.On June 30, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States held the decision. “A term styled ‘generic.com’ is a generic name for a class of goods or services only if the term has that meaning to consumers. Consumers, according to lower court determinations uncontested by the PTO, do not perceive the term ‘Booking.com’ to signify online hotel-reservation services as a class. In circumstances like those this case presents, a ‘generic.com’ term is not generic and can be eligible for federal trademark registration,” the Court stated.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.
