The U.S. Trademark Office rejects an application for 'Higher Ground Productions' so the former president and first lady get aggressive.
The U.S. Trademark Office rejects an application for "Higher Ground Productions" so the former president and first lady get aggressive.GoingOn Aug. 20, Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions made a move to save its name. That day, the company went to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and demanded cancellation of someone else's earlier trademark registration for "Higher Ground Enterprises.
Higher Ground Enterprises is run by Hanisya Massey, who according to her attorney Larry Zerner, is in the business of helping authors publish e-books. Her trademark is in Class 41, which includes entertainment services. Zerner says Massey has been using "Higher Ground" since 2008.for films and television series, Higher Ground Productions came into conflict with Higher Ground Enterprises.
On April 10, a Trademark Examiner refused to register the Obamas' claimed mark with a nod to the one held by Massey."[T]he consumers of 'media production services' covered by the Application are likely to be highly sophisticated," stated a letter on behalf of the Obamas' production company to the Trademark Office. "Media production services are generally offered not to individual consumers but to commercial entities and professionals in their field.
That argument didn't convince the U.S. Trademark Office, which saw "Higher Ground Productions" and "Higher Ground Enterprises" as too similar sounding, too related in services being offered, and advised, "The overriding concern is not only to prevent buyer confusion as to the source of the goods and/or services, but to protect the registrant from adverse commercial impact due to use of a similar mark by a newcomer.
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