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<p>A listserv member asks to respond anonymously ...</p>
This is the bane of my existence. A couple of websites, not even any
registrations, and boom!, the goods/services are related, QED. No
evaluation of the market size or whether those websites accurately
represent the type of business or they are outliers instead. (Are
skates and bicycles related? Yes, if you only look at the <a
href="https://us.ccmhockey.com/aboutus.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">CCM brand. </a> Turns out bicycles are hard
to sell in the winter in Canada but skates do great!) Pre-internet,
when they used only registrations, it was at least logical; if there
are several then it is arguably directional that the goods are
related - but websites? But I don't think I've yet been effective in
explaining why this just isn't logical or right. Instead you just
get an examining attorney entrenched in their position (as lawyers
we so insist on being right!) and an exercise of discretion never
enters the equation.<br>
<br>
There is this non-precedential decision where the TTAB held that
five websites and six registrations wasn't enough - <i>In re Panini
America, Inc.</i>, Serial No. 88960212 (not a precedent) (July 12,
2023) (“the totality of the website and third-party registration
evidence falls rather short of demonstrating that consumers would
expect sports trading cards and magazines featuring sports
information could emanate from the same source”); The TTABlog post
here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://thettablog.blogspot.com/2023/07/ttablog-test-is-playbook-for-sports.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://thettablog.blogspot.com/2023/07/ttablog-test-is-playbook-for-sports.html</a><br>
<br>
I wish it were precedential. I take it as a sign, though, that the
TTAB is more discerning and realistic in their analysis, so maybe
the answer is to appeal more.<br>
<br>
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