Recently I was buying some pistachios from a pistachio producer in New Mexico.
The name of the business is Pistachio Tree Ranch.
On proud display behind the counter was their federal trademark certificate for "Pistachio Tree Ranch."
That name strikes me as pretty damn generic, and the place doesn't seem to have been around long enough to have acquired secondary meaning.
Pistachios grow on trees. So Pistachio Tree is really just a generic description of the product. Adding "Ranch" to it doesn't make it very unqiue, either. Would they have gotten a TM if they called it Pistachio Tree Orchard? One would hope not. Ranch is just a slightly misdescriptive term for orchard, IMO.
It's a pretty damned weak mark, if you ask me.
I don't begrudge them getting the TM, but it seems like a low threshhold for that mark.
The name of the business is Pistachio Tree Ranch.
On proud display behind the counter was their federal trademark certificate for "Pistachio Tree Ranch."
That name strikes me as pretty damn generic, and the place doesn't seem to have been around long enough to have acquired secondary meaning.
Pistachios grow on trees. So Pistachio Tree is really just a generic description of the product. Adding "Ranch" to it doesn't make it very unqiue, either. Would they have gotten a TM if they called it Pistachio Tree Orchard? One would hope not. Ranch is just a slightly misdescriptive term for orchard, IMO.
It's a pretty damned weak mark, if you ask me.
I don't begrudge them getting the TM, but it seems like a low threshhold for that mark.
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Re: trademark
Wed, January 2, 2008 - 1:44 PMIt isn't too strong. I looked up their three registrations. Their first one is on the supplemental Register, which means there's no presumption of distinctiveness. They have been in business for 20 years, so they got their third registration based on acquired distinctiveness (you only need five years). The second reg is for the logo. All of them have disclaimers that they will not claim exclusive use of the word "pistachio" apart from the mark as shown, and the first two have disclaimers to the entire phrase. And it's only for pistachios and related foods. So just because one has a fed reg for a mark doesn't mean it's necessarily strong.
As it turns out, their attorney is someone I used to work with!
