In re Boston Beer Company Ltd. Partnership

Notable Items:

Appellant: Boston Beer Company Ltd. Partnership
Appellee: US Patend and Trademark Office
Venue: US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Issue(s) Before the Court:

Can The Boston Beer Company register as a trademark the phrase: "The Best Beer in America"?

Plaintiff / Appellant / Petitioner's Claim(s):

Claimed use since June 1985 and asserted that the words sought to be registered having acquired distinctiveness under 15 USC 1052(f).

Defendant / Appellee / Respondent's Claim(s):

Not distictive. Generic description of genus of products. Failed to establish secondary meaning.

Holding(s) and Disposition:

Held: No. Cannot be so registered.
Disposition: the decision of the board is affirmed.

Material Facts:

On November 30, 1993, the Boston Beer Company filed an application to register "The Best Beer in America" on the principal register for "beverages, namely beer and ale".
A full recounting of the facts is available below

Procedural History:

Rationale

Majority Opinion

A full description of the rationale is available below

?? concur in part, dissent in part (??)

?? dissent (??)

Full Recounting of Facts

On November 30, 1993, the Boston Beer Company filed an application to register "The Best Beer in America" on the principal register for "beverages, namely beer and ale".
Claimed use since June 1985 and asserted that the words sought to be registered having acquired distinctiveness under 15 USC 1052(f).
... two million dollars on promotions and promotional items which included the phrase "The Best Beer in America".
... submitted an advertisement for a competitor's product, Rolling Rock Bock beer, which included an invitation to sample "the beer that bested 'The Best Beer in America,'" as evidence that Rolling Rock regards "The Best Beer in America" as Boston Beer's trademark.
... rejected as merely descriptive ... used by Boston Beer and others as a laudatory phrase ... by a number of different brewers.
... if marks such as "Best Products" and "American Airlines" can be registered even though they are also used descriptively, then the proposed mark should be similarly registered.
... final refusal to register under 15 USC 1052(e)(1) ... failed to establish that the mark had become distinctive.
notice of appeal ... consideration of new evidence ... denied registration for lack of distinctiveness ...
... name of a genus of goods ... "beers brewed in America that have won taste competitions or were judged best in taste events."
generic and thus incapable of registration
... third supplemental brief ...
... cannot function as a trademark because such "claims of superiority should be freely available to all competitors in any give field to refer to their products or services."
This appeal followed.
A list of the material facts is available above

Majority Full Argument

The use of the phrase by others in its descriptive form support the board's conclusion that the mark has not acquired distinctiveness.
The proposed mark is a common, laudatory advertising phrase which is merely descriptive of the qualities of its product that the slogan does not and could not function as a trademark ....
... Boston Beer has not met its burden to show that the proposed mark has acquired secondary meaning.
The core of the rationale is available above