Virginia Code 59.1-92.3: Registrability
A mark by which the goods or services of any applicant for registration may be distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be registered if it consists of or comprises:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-92.3
- Abandoned: means either (i) the discontinuance of use of a mark with intent not to resume such use (intent not to resume may be inferred from circumstances, i. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- Applicant: means any person filing an application for registration of a mark under this chapter, and the legal representatives, successors, or assigns of such person. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Mark: means any trademark or service mark registered in the Commonwealth or the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or entitled to registration under this chapter, whether registered or not. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- Service mark: means any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof used by a person to identify and distinguish the services of such person from the services of others. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Trade name: means any name used by a person to identify a business or enterprise. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- Trademark: means any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof used by a person to identify and distinguish the goods of such person from those manufactured or sold by others. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
- Use: means the bona fide use of a mark in the ordinary course of trade, and not made merely to reserve a right in a mark. See Virginia Code 59.1-92.2
1. Any immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter;
2. Any matter which may falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute;
3. The flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof;
4. The name, signature or portrait identifying a particular living individual, except by the individual’s written consent;
5. A mark which (i) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; (ii) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, is primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or (iii) is primarily merely a surname; however, nothing in this subdivision shall prevent the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become distinctive in this Commonwealth of the applicant’s goods or services. The Commission may accept as prima facie evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as used on or in connection with the applicant’s goods or services, proof of continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in this Commonwealth for the five years before the date of the application for registration; or
6. A mark which so resembles a mark registered in this Commonwealth or a trademark, service mark or trade name previously used in this Commonwealth by another and not abandoned, as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake, or to deceive.
1998, c. 819.