Should American Trademark Law Speak English

"The Solicitor General has urged the Supreme Court to deny certiorari in Vetements Group v. Squires, defending the PTO's practice of translating foreign-language marks into English to assess their protectability. The French fashion company petitioned SCOTUS for review after the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB's refusal to register VETEMENTS (the French word for "clothing") as a trademark for clothing and clothing-related retail services."

"The focus here is the continued vitality of the "doctrine of foreign equivalents," a judicially created guideline that requires translation of foreign words from common modern languages to determine whether they are generic or merely descriptive. The Federal Circuit applied this doctrine to conclude that an "appreciable number" of American consumers would "stop and translate" VETEMENTS into "clothing," rendering it generic and thus ineligible for"

The Solicitor General urged the Supreme Court to deny certiorari in Vetements Group v. Squires and defended the PTO's practice of translating foreign-language marks into English to assess protectability. The French fashion company sought review after the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB's refusal to register VETEMENTS — the French word for "clothing" — as a trademark for clothing and retail services. The government's position frames a dispute over whether trademark registration should reflect how American consumers encounter marks across linguistic diversity or require systematic English translation to prevent monopolization of generic terms. The case implicates the doctrine of foreign equivalents and which consumers' perceptions should control registration.

Read at Patently-O