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Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won
not tay ber own

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Edmund Burke


This information is taken directly from the court opinion. It is not taken out of context nor is it altered.

When defendants obtained their trademark, they did no CD-ROM business. The term "Cds" (not "CDS") is generic, and a holder of a trademark must be denied protection if the mark becomes generic and is an expression that does not relate exclusively to a trademark owner's property. New Kids on the Block v. News Am. Pub., Inc., 971 F.2d 302, 306 (9th Cir.1992).

The court concludes that defendants cannot now expand their trademark rights to generic descriptions existing in our everyday language. Whereas "CDS" are initials of defendants' companies, defendants' registration of the trademark in 1988 described a business pertaining to "desktop publishing and printing." Defendants now seek to expand the scope of this mark's protection to preclude the use of "CDs" in reference to compact disc products and services, and this renders the mark invalid as being generic. Accordingly, plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is granted.

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