Opinion ID: 785783
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Incontestable Status of FREEBIES

Text: 44 Defendants suggest that, even if we do not agree that FREEBIES is, at the very least, a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning, it is beyond dispute that FREEBIES has become incontestable, and therefore is not subject to challenge with regard to its secondary meaning. This argument misses the mark. 45 If a registered trademark becomes incontestable, the rebuttable presumption that a registered mark has acquired secondary meaning becomes conclusive evidence of the registrant's exclusive right to use the registered mark subject to a number of affirmative defenses enumerated in the Lanham Act. 15 U.S.C.A § 1115(b) (West 1998 & Supp.2003). This list, however, does not include a defense based upon a mark's lack of secondary meaning — a merely descriptive mark, then, is subject to challenge based on its lack of distinctiveness until it acquires incontestable status. See Park `N Fly, 469 U.S. at 196, 105 S.Ct. 658. Thus, a presumption arises from the registration of a trademark that the mark is entitled to trademark protection because of either the mark's inherently distinctive nature or its secondary meaning, but the mark is subject to challenge on the basis that it is merely descriptive. See id.; America Online, 243 F.3d at 817-18. The validity of the same registered mark, after qualifying for incontestable status, is conclusively presumed and may not be challenged as merely descriptive. See Park `N Fly, 469 U.S. at 196, 105 S.Ct. 658. The Supreme Court provided this concise summary: 46 A mark that is merely descriptive of an applicant's goods or services is not registrable unless the mark has secondary meaning. Before a mark achieves incontestable status, registration provides prima facie evidence of the registrant's exclusive right to use the mark in commerce. The Lanham Act expressly provides that before a mark becomes incontestable an opposing party may prove any ... defense which might have been asserted if the mark had not been registered ... [including a] challenge [to the] mark as merely descriptive.... With respect to incontestable marks, ... registration is conclusive evidence of the registrant's exclusive right to use the mark.... Mere descriptiveness is not recognized by [the relevant provisions of the Lanham Act] as a basis for challenging an incontestable mark. 47 Id. (internal citations omitted). 48 Here, however, the issue is not whether the mark is merely descriptive, but whether it is generic. And incontestability is never a shield for a mark that is generic. Although § 1115(b) does not enumerate the generic nature of a trademark as a basis for challenging an incontestable mark, a registration is subject to cancellation at any time if the registered mark becomes the generic name for the goods or services ... for which it is registered. 15 U.S.C.A. § 1064(3). As we observed before, a generic word can never function as a trademark or receive a certificate of registration as one. Even an incontestable mark, therefore, comes within the reach of § 1064(3) and may be canceled if it becomes generic. See Park `N Fly, 469 U.S. at 195, 105 S.Ct. 658.