Elon Musk’s conflict over snack food trademark
Elon Musk is not known for being the leading pioneer in the snack and the food industry. However, a few years ago, one of his companies – The Boring Company (TBC – Elon Musk) entered into a small conflict over the snack food trademark with another company called The Boring Company (LLC). The 2 companies with a similar name but with entirely different fields of operation have clashed in a trademark battle that will be explained in the article.
On Thursday, November 12, 2020, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for THE BORING SNACK COMPANY by The Boring Company LLC.
The USPTO has given the THE BORING SNACK COMPANY trademark a serial number of 90316533.
The THE BORING SNACK COMPANY trademark is filed in the category of Staple Food Products .
The description provided to the USPTO for THE BORING SNACK COMPANY is Bread; Candy; Chocolate; Tiramisu; Cookies; Cookies and crackers; Cookies with nuts; Ice cream; Pretzels; Puddings; Savory biscuits; Savory pancakes; Banana pudding; Bread pudding; Cereal-based snack foods; Chocolate truffles; Chocolate covered cookies; Chocolate covered pretzels; Chocolate topped pretzels; Ice-cream-based snack foods; Multigrain-based snack foods; Rice-based snack foods.
In its application, the Boring Company LLC stated that its first use anywhere and its first commercial use of the mark is both November 10th, 2020 – just 2 days before its filing date of the mark.
Elon Musk opposed the mark
Musk’s infrastructure firm, The Boring Company (TBC) which is a leading pioneer in the field of infrastructure, has filed a trademark opposition against the trademark application.
At a glimpse, many will think that TBC has no need to file the opposition as although the mark bears a similar name to the trade name of the company, they are of entirely different field of operation. One is infrastructure and one is snack and food.
However, TBC of Elon Musk has a different view and they have proved it in their statement: “The goods identified in the Subject Application are related to the goods offered or intended to be offered by The Boring Company… The Boring Company has enjoyed enormous success selling everything from hats to “not-a-flamethrowers.” Applicant’s foodstuffs offered under a virtually identical trademark are thus likely to be perceived as promotional or novelty items.”
Musk’s TBC claims that the registration of the mark will create confusion among consumers about the nature of the brand and the connection between the 2 companies.
They also claim that the company filing for registration has not used the trademark in commerce, despite claiming a date of first use. However, does TBC’s claim reasonable? Would a consumer be confused between a snack food company and an infrastructure company?
Regardless, it seems like Elon Musk had won another battle as of October 25th, 2021, the trademark application for the “The boring snack company” mark was abandoned after an inter partes decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, following a withdrawal of application filed the defendant – The Boring Company LLC.
***Other Articles***
– You could check Required documents of filing trademark in USA here.
– You could see What needs to be done after registering a trademark in US? here.
– You could visit here to see What is use in commerce of filing trademark in USA.
– You could also check here to see Procedure of Trademark in USA.
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