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29 July 2016Trademarks

Whole Foods trademark application rejected for making ‘laudatory’ claims

US supermarket chain Whole Foods Market has had its trademark application for the slogan ‘World’s healthiest grocery store’ rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The supermarket’s current slogan is ‘America’s healthiest grocery store’ and is used as part of its mission to offer healthy foods. It was granted a trademark for the term in 2012.

But the USPTO rejected its new application because the term is “merely laudatory and descriptive of the alleged merit of a product”.

The USPTO added that the trademark application was for “an exaggerated phrase that can’t be proven or hasn’t been proved as true”.

Whole Foods has six months to re-file and update its application.

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