[Gnso-newgtld-wg] Generic words belong to everyone in a business or industry

Kathy Kleiman kathy at kathykleiman.com
Tue Feb 18 15:36:24 UTC 2020


As we revisit the topic of Closed Generics, I would like to share a few 
thoughts as a reminder on how this issue (of "generic words") has been 
dealt with in other forums. This is a long-established issue...

1) Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, US Trademark Office:

"Generic terms are incapable of functioning as marks denoting source, 
and are not registrable on the Principal Register under §2(f) or on the 
Supplemental Register." 807.14(e)(ii)

2) Our own Community Objection process reviewed and raised the same deep 
concerns for gTLDs in which the applicant (a competitor in a field)

ICC New gTLD Community Objections determination:  "The establishment of 
unrestricted, exclusive rights to a gTLD that is strongly associated 
with a certain community or communities, particularly where those 
communities are, or are likely to be, active in the Internet sphere 
*seems to me inherently detrimental to those communities' interests."  
[Note: the "communities" being referred to here are commercial 
communities.  The issue of a closed .MOBILE was raised by the CTIA which 
represents the US mobile wireless industry. *1-1316-6133

Best, Kathy

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