COGNAC LIFE for Magazine Publishing Confusable with Famous COGNAC Regional Certification Mark, Says TTAB

Applicant Dickens may have had Great Expectations when he filed his application to register COGNAC LIFE for "magazine publishing," but he fell on Hard Times when the Board sustained this opposition based on likelihood of confusion with the common-law regional certification mark COGNAC for brandy that comes from the Cognac region of France. The Board found that the COGNAC mark falls on the "high end of the fame spectrum," and therefore merits "a wider than normal scope of protection."  Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité and Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac v. Daret K. Dickens, Opposition No. 91272506 (February 2, 2026) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christen M. English).

"Geographic certification marks are used to certify that authorized users’ goods originate in a specific geographic region." "The test for determining likelihood of confusion with respect to certification marks is the same as that applied to trademarks, i.e., the DuPont analysis derived from the seminal case setting forth possible probative factors."

COGNAC products have been sold continuously in the United States since 1794. From 2018 to 2022, 500 million bottles of COGNAC were sold, valued at about 7.5 billion dollars. The BNIC and its members have spent millions of dollars on promotions "that focus on showcasing and promoting the COGNAC geographical indication and creating awareness about the regions’ history, terroir, and product range expertise among US consumers.” Certified COGNAC wine spirts have garnered publicity “in countless publications" and COGNAC brandy has been the subject of many books.

[T]he evidence of record ... demonstrates that a significant portion of the relevant consuming public recognizes the COGNAC certification mark as indicating that brandy bearing the mark comes from the Cognac region of France, and falls on the high end of the fame spectrum as an indicator of geographic origin for purposes of the fifth DuPont factor, and therefore enjoys a wider than normal scope of protection.

As to Applicant Dickens's mark, the Board found that word COGNAC is dominant and the additional term LIFE "does not sufficiently distinguish Applicant’s mark from Opposers’ mark in any meaningful way." "[B]ecause Opposer’s COGNAC mark is the first word in Applicant’s mark, the marks share a similar sound, despite the additional second word LIFE in Applicant’s mark."

The record supports that consumers have been exposed to sources touting COGNAC brandy as a lifestyle product – a symbol of luxury, affluence, and sophistication – and describing COGNAC brandy as a popular drink in rap and hip-hop culture. Consumers therefore are likely to associate the COGNAC certification mark with such lifestyles. The addition of the second word LIFE in Applicant’s COGNAC LIFE mark thus reinforces and highlights the connotation and commercial impression of the COGNAC mark with certain lifestyles, and thus, the parties’ marks are quite similar in connotation and commercial impression.

In sum, the Board found the involved marks to be similar in appearance and sound, and very similar in connotation and commercial impression, and so the first DuPont factor weighed heavily in favor of finding confusion likely.

As to the issue of relatedness, "the parties’ correctly base their comparison under the second DuPont factor on the authorized users’ goods, namely, brandy from the Cognac region of France produced in accordance with prescribed standards." The evidence showed that COGNAC brandy is a product commonly featured in magazine articles as well as other publications. Moreover, since 2018, BNIC has published CULTURE COGNAC, a digital magazine promoting certified Cognac products.

Applicant’s magazine publishing services are broad enough to encompass publishing magazines for others on all subject matters, including lifestyle magazines such as those featuring content related to food and alcoholic beverages, including Cognac brandy.

We thus find a commercial relationship between COGNAC brandy and Applicant’s COGNAC LIFE “magazine publishing” services for others. In addition, circumstances support finding “something more” here, namely, the renown of Opposers’ COGNAC certification mark and the substantial similarity between the parties’ marks in meaning and commercial impression.

The parties’ trade channels, the buyers to whom sales are made and buyer sophistication under the third and fourth DuPont factors are neutral, as are the seventh and eighth DuPont factors concerning the absence of actual confusion.

Balancing the relevant DuPont factors, the Board concluded that confusion is likely.

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TTABlogger comment: Nothing very novel about this opinion. BTW: there are a dozen or so registered COGNAC-formative marks for brandy and the like, owned by various entities. Why hasn't COGNAC been registered as a certification mark?

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2026.