On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court decision denying trademark registration to TBL Licensing LLC (Timberland) for its Timberland boots.
Timberland had sought trademark registration for eight specific features of one its boots on the theory that the features were “distinctive” and that consumers identified those features with Timberland. However, the district court denied registration for those eight features on the grounds that (1) the boots, in fact, lacked such distinctiveness, including because it was not clear that consumer association stemmed from the eight specific features versus other features and (2) the features were functional, thereby rendering the boots ineligible for trademark registration.
