Customer is The KING

The field of Trademark has many fascinating narratives that never fails to amaze its legal circumstance. There are unique trademarks, iconic trademarks, simple but arbitrary trademarks and then there are generic or descriptive trademarks. The last ones are always a tough nut to crack. However, when the generic marks are recognised as brands, there has to be a strong factor which led to it. The Booking.com issue is an impressive finding. Booking.com is a digital travel company that provides hotel reservations and other services under the brand “Booking.com”. The United States Patent and Trademark Office had denied Booking.com’s trademark application because it believed the name to be generic. The US Supreme Court in case of United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com ruled in favour of the latter while recognising it as a brand and not simply a web address. The Court stressed on the fact that it is important to consider how the market/consumer views a term like Booking.com and when a consumer starts adapting to such a term as a brand then that term deserves trademark protection. The Court emphasised, ““Because ‘Booking.com’ is not a generic name to consumers, it is not generic.” This decision has brought hope & relief to several brand owners who have invested hugely in such terms.