In re Rath
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
402 F.3d 1207 (2005)
- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
Rath (plaintiff) was a German citizen who had registered his trademarks “Dr. Rath” and “Rath” for goods and services in Germany. Rath applied for registration in the United States. The trademark examiner refused the application on the grounds that the trademarks were primarily merely surnames, which are barred from registration under the Lanham Act. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) upheld the refusal. Rath appealed, conceding that the trademarks were primarily surnames, but alleging that under the Paris Convention, an international agreement governing foreign trademark to which the United States was a party, the marks must be accepted for registration in the United States because they had been duly registered in Germany.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Dyk, J.)
Concurrence (Bryson, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 830,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
