CAFC Affirms TTAB: YUCATAN SHRIMP is Merely Descriptive of Prepared Shrimp Dish

The CAFC upheld the Board's decision [here] affirming the USPTO's Section 2(e)(1) refusal to register the proposed mark YUCATAN SHRIMP for "prepared food, namely, shrimp, not live." The court ruled that substantial evidence supported the Board's finding that YUCATAN SHRIMP is recognized as a dish using shrimp and particular ingredients associated with Mexican cuisine. In re Randy Wayne White, 2025 USPQ2d 929 (Fed. Cir. July 10, 2025) [not precedential].

Examining Attorney Charles Miller provided "a legion of recipes and descriptions of 'Yucatan Shrimp' dishes from third-party cooking and restaurant webpages, showing that the public understands 'Yucatan Shrimp' to refer to a dish that features shrimp prepared with a set of common ingredients associated with Mexican cuisine, such as hot peppers or sauce, citrus juice, and cilantro."

The Board also relied on Mr. White’s own usage of the mark on his restaurant’s menu. The menu describes the dish as originating in Quintana Roo, Mexico, which encompasses a portion of the Yucatan Peninsula. And the menu explains that the dish is prepared using the same ingredients as the third-party dishes described above, further supporting the Board’s finding that the public would recognize the YUCATAN SHRIMP mark as describing a shrimp dish with common ingredients.

The CAFC pooh-poohed all of Applicant White feeble arguments: that that there is no particular style of cooking originating, or understood to originate, in the Yucatan region of Mexico, that the Board relied on a ground of refusal not raised by the Office, and that the Examining Attorney failed to consider certain evidence (which evidence the Board did consider).

Finally, White contended that any doubt as to descriptiveness should have been resolved in his favor, but the court found "no basis on this record to conclude that the examiner or the Board doubted the descriptiveness of the mark or that they improperly resolved any doubts against Mr. White."

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TTABlogger comment: Randy Wayne White is the author of a series of "Doc Ford" novels set in Florida.

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2025.