TTAB Sees "A**HOLE" As Scandalous
The Board took a dim view of the mark "THE COMPLETE A**HOLE'S GUIDE TO ..." for a "series of books providing information relating to advice, counseling, self-help, and humor." It affirmed a Section 2(a) refusal to register on the ground that the mark comprises immoral or scandalous matter. In re Zaharoni, Serial No. 76351811 (January 4, 2005) [not citable].
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The Examining Attorney relied on dictionary definitions and Internet articles to show that "A**HOLE" is a shortened version of "asshole," and "asshole" is a scandalous term. (E.g., a Salon.com article bearing the headline: "Trump revelation. 'I am an a**hole.'").
Applicant Daniel Zaharoni argued that "asshole" also has the non-vulgar meaning of "anus, the posterior opening of the alimentary canal," and thus his mark should be registrable under In re Mavety, 31 USPQ2d 1923 (Fed. Cir. 1994)[BLACK TAIL not scandalous for adult magazines]. Moreover, according to Zaharoni, society does not consider "a**hole" to be scandalous, but rather "has adopted the term . . . as a non-offensive alternative when attempting to categorize provocative products or people."
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Thus the Board readily distinguished this case from Mavety, in which the term "tail" in the context of applicant's adult magazines had both a vulgar and equally applicable non-vulgar meaning. Here there was no such double entendre: i.e., an a**hole is an a**hole, and there's no two ways about it.
One piece of evidence that might have helped Zaharoni was absent from the record. The Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks is available at Wal-Mart. So how scandalous can it be?
Text Copyright John L. Welch 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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