On My Mind Blog

The U.S. Trademark Act prohibits the registration of marks that are likely to be confused with other marks that have either been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or are in use by another entity in the United States. 15 U.S.C. §1052(d).

Generally, the word element is considered dominant in a composite mark consisting of words and design elements.  However, such a mark can be found to differ sufficiently from a competitor’s mark if, for example, the word and design elements present a distinguishing cohesive narrative.