T.M.E.P. § 1206.01
Name, Portrait or Signature
Executive summary:
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1206.01 Name, Portrait or Signature
Section 2(c) explicitly pertains to any name, portrait or signature that identifies a particular living individual, or a deceased president of the United States during the life of the president's widow.
To identify a particular living individual, a name does not have to be the person's full name. See Ross v. Analytical Technology Inc., 51 USPQ2d 1269 (TTAB 1999) (registration of opposer's surname without consent prohibited by §2(c), where the record showed that because of opposer's reputation as an inventor in the field of electrochemical analysis, the relevant public would associate the goods so marked with opposer); In re Steak andAle Restaurants of America, Inc., 185 USPQ 447 (TTAB 1975) (PRINCE CHARLES found to identify a particular living individual whose consent was not of record); Laub v. Industrial Development Laboratories, Inc., 121 USPQ 595 (TTAB 1959) (LAUB, for flowmeters, found to identify the holder of a patent for flowmeters, whose written consent was not of record); Reed v. Bakers Engineering & Equipment Co., 100 USPQ 196, 199 (PO Ex. Ch. 1954) (registration of REED REEL OVEN, for ovens, held to be barred by §2(c) without written consent of the designer and builder of the ovens, Paul N. Reed. "'Name' in §2(c) is not restricted to the full name of an individual but refers to any name regardless of whether it is a full name, or a surname or given name, or even a nickname, which identifies a particular living individual..."). Cf. Sociˇtˇ Civile Des Domaines Dourthe Fr¸res v. S.A. Consortium Vinicole De Bordeaux Et De La Gironde, 6 USPQ2d 1205, 1209 (TTAB 1988) ("Section 2(c) does not apply to surnames except in those cases where a particular individual is known by a surname alone.")
Cases involving portraits include In re McKee Baking Co., 218 USPQ 287 (TTAB 1983) (mark comprising a sign on which the portrait of a young girl appears below the words LITTLE DEBBIE); In re Masucci, 179 USPQ 829 (TTAB 1973) (mark comprising name and portrait of a deceased president of the United States, President Eisenhower); Garden v. Parfumerie Rigaud, Inc., 34 USPQ 30 (Comm'r Pats. 1937) (marks comprising name and portrait of Mary Garden).