TSA lock TM is ‘generic’: EUIPO
New York-based travel equipment manufacturer Safe Skies has successfully had a rival company’s European trademark for ‘TSA lock’ revoked at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
According to the EUIPO, Florida company Travel Sentry had allowed the term ‘TSA lock’ to become generic, to the point that it did not provide any indication as to the commercial origin of the goods in question.
“The words ‘TSA lock’ are used as an indication that such locks are a specific type of lock and not that they all come from one particular company,” the decision said.
‘TSA lock’ refers to locks designed to be opened by both the US Transportation Security Administration, and airport customs in general.
The US agency, which has jurisdiction for airport security, has the right to open luggage it deems suspicious, even if it means breaking the attached locks.
The function of TSA locks is that they can be opened by airport security officers using a universal master key.
Travel Sentry registered ‘TSA lock’ as a European trademark in 2006, covering both metal and non-metal locks, as well as different types of bags, in classes 6, 18, and 20.
Safe Skies had previously sought to have the mark invalidated by the EU General Court.
In its 2018 decision, however, the General Court ruled that in 2005, when Travel Sentry first applied for the mark, there was no evidence that the mark was descriptive. The court did not consider evidence submitted by Safe Skies pertaining to after this date.
Safe Skies then filed its latest revocation action with the EUIPO’s cancellation division, on the basis that the mark had become descriptive since it was first registered.
The cancellation division has now sided with Safe Skies, finding that Travel Sentry allowed the mark to be used in a generic fashion.
Safe Skies argued that the mark was descriptive as it referred to a lock designed to be opened by the agency responsible for US airport security.
Travel Sentry claimed that the relevant public, the English and German speaking population of the EU, did not perceive ‘TSA’ as meaning “Transportation Security Administration”.
But according to the EUIPO, whether customs knew the meaning of the acronym TSA was irrelevant, “as long as they know that TSA locks serve for being able to be opened without force by airport personnel”.
“The evidence suggests that, if an average consumer looks for travel locks or suitcases, they are likely to come across TSA locks in a way that indicates that this is not a trademark but a feature of the goods,” the decision said.
The EUIPO also agreed with Safe Skies’ argument that Travel Sentry had failed to maintain the distinctiveness of the mark, and said it had “allowed others to use the EUTM as a generic term”.
According to the decision, Travel Sentry could have insisted that manufacturers and retailers use ‘TSA lock’ as a commercial trademark.
If the company did provide such instructions, they were either “insufficient” or “not complied with,” the cancellation division found.
The EUIPO awarded costs of €1,080 ($US1193) to Safe Skies.
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