In a
March 24, 2014 ruling, Judge Katherine B. Forrest held on summary judgment that the word “collective” is descriptive as applied to the defendant’s services in the plaintiff’s declaratory judgment action of trademark non-infringement. Judge Forrest wrote:
The word “collective,” as used by Collective is descriptive. “Collective” is defined in the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary as, inter alia, “denoting a number of persons or things considered as one group or whole,” “formed by collecting: aggregated,” and “of, relating to, or being a group of individuals.” This is precisely the manner in which Collective uses the word; it is an advertising network that offers a collection or collective of advertising opportunities. It is the manner in which Collective uses the word in the Collective Marks themselves (“collective” followed by another word or words) and in its descriptions of those marks. The word “collective” thus literally describes “an immediate idea of the ingredients, qualities or characteristics” of Collective’s product.
The Court also denied the plaintiff’s motion “to grant it summary judgment as to the strength of any trademark rights Collective may have in “collective” as a stand-alone mark,” finding disputed issues of material fact.
