(A) A mark by which the goods or services of an applicant for registration may be distinguished from the goods or services of others may not be registered if the mark:

(1) consists of or includes immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter;

(2) consists of or includes matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with or bring into contempt or disrepute a person, living or dead, an institution, belief, or national symbol;

(3) consists of or includes the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, a state or municipality, or a foreign nation or a simulation of the flag, coat of arms, or other insignia of any of these;

(4) consists of or includes the name, signature, or portrait identifying a particular living individual, except by the individual's written consent;

(5) consists of a mark which:

(a) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them;

(b) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant is primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or

(c) is primarily merely a proper name or surname;

(6) consists of or includes a mark which so resembles a mark registered in this State or a mark or trade name previously used by another person in this State 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.

(B) However, nothing in subsection (A)(5) prevents the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become distinctive of the applicant's goods or services. The secretary may accept as evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as used on or in connection with the applicant's goods or services, by proof of continuous use as a mark by the applicant in this State for the five years before the date on which the claim of distinctiveness is made.

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 486, Section 1, eff 3 months after July 13, 1994; 2002 Act No. 279, Section 1, eff May 28, 2002.

Effect of Amendment

The 2002 amendment, in paragraph (A)(6), inserted "person in this State".