In Re AMOSS

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided December 15, 2025·No. 24-1617·Unpublished

Opinion

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

IN RE: MATTHEW AMOSS,

Appellant

2024-1617

Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in No. 90703327.

Decided: December 15, 2025

FABIAN NEHRBASS, Garvey, Smith & Nehrbass, Patent Attorneys, LLC, New Orleans, LA, for appellant. Also represented by JULIE RABALAIS CHAUVIN, VANESSA M. D'SOUZA.

ERICA JEUNG DICKEY, Office of the Solicitor, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Alexandria, VA, for appellee John A. Squires. Also represented by NICHOLAS THEODORE MATICH, IV, MARY BETH WALKER, GIULIO ERNESTO YAQUINTO.

2 IN RE: AMOSS

Before LOURIE and STOLL, Circuit Judges, and OETKEN, District Judge.1

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

Matthew Amoss appeals a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) final decision affirming the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to register the mark “BASIN BEVERAGE CO.” (Serial No. 90/703,327) (“applicant’s mark”) on the ground that it is likely to cause confusion under § 2(d) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d). In re Matthew Amoss, No. 90703327 (T.T.A.B. Jan. 26, 2024) (“Decision”), J.A. 1– 23. For the following reasons, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Amoss filed a multiple-class application to register the mark “BASIN BEVERAGE CO.” on the Principal Register for goods identified in three separate International Classes : (1) “Tea-based beverages; Coffee based beverages; Kombucha tea,” in International Class 30, (2) “Beverages, namely, beer, sparkling water, non-alcoholic water-based beverages,” in International Class 32, and (3) “Beverages, namely, wine, hard seltzer; Hard kombucha tea,” in International Class 33. A multiple-class application is treated the same as filing separate applications for the same mark in each Class.

For each Class application, the Examining Attorney compared the applicant’s mark to cited registered marks and assessed the relevant DuPont factors: here, the first (similarity of the marks), the second (similarity of the goods), the third (similarity in trade channels), the fourth (the classes of purchasers and conditions of purchase), the

1 Honorable J. Paul Oetken, District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.

IN RE: AMOSS 3

fifth (fame of the prior mark), and the sixth (the number and nature of similar marks in use). See Application of E. I. DuPont DeNemours & Co., 476 F.2d 1357, 1361 (CCPA 1973). In doing so, the Examining Attorney found that consumer confusion was likely between the applicant’s mark and the cited registered marks for each Class application and refused registration accordingly. 2 See id. The Board affirmed the refusals. 3 We discuss each refusal in turn.

I

The Examining Attorney refused registration for “BASIN BEVERAGE CO.” under International Class 30 based on two cited registrations in that Class for the marks “GREAT BASIN COFFEE COMPANY” on the Supplemental Register and “TAHOE BASIN” on the Principal Register. 4 See Decision, J.A. 2. The Examining Attorney assessed the relevant DuPont factors and found that the goods are identical, distributed in overlapping trade channels , and marketed to overlapping purchasers. See J.A. 194–95, 240–41, 528–29, 531–34. She also found that the marks were similar in overall commercial impression because they all centered on the shared dominant term “BASIN.” J.A. 194–95, 240–41, 526–28, 529–31. In so finding , the Examining Attorney explained that additional

2 The application also identified services in International Class 43, which were not refused registration and are not part of this appeal.

3 The Board did not consider the conditions of purchase aspect of the fourth DuPont factor because Amoss and the Examining Attorney failed to address it. Decision, J.A. 7 n.14.

4 TAHOE BASIN (Reg. 6760872) is registered for goods including “Chai tea; Coffee,” and GREAT BASIN COFFEE COMPANY (Reg. 5510241) is registered for goods including “Coffee and tea; Coffee based beverages.”

4 IN RE: AMOSS

wording of the various marks (e.g., “GREAT,” “TAHOE,” “BEVERAGE CO.,” and “COFFEE COMPANY”) did not meaningfully distinguish source, as those words are geographic without other source-identifying features, merely descriptive of the goods, or a simple variation of an entity designation. J.A. 194–95, 240–41, 526–28, 529–31.

The Board affirmed the Examining Attorney’s registration refusal. It agreed that the goods were in part legally identical under the second DuPont factor because the goods of the applicant and those of the registrants included teaand coffee-based beverages. Decision, J.A. 5–6. The Board also found that, because the goods were in part identical and because the registrations contained no limitation on trade channels, the marks were properly presumed to share the same channels of trade and purchasers under the third and fourth DuPont factors, respectively. Id. at 6–7 (citations omitted). The Board therefore concluded that the second, third, and fourth DuPont factors “strongly” favored a likelihood of confusion. J.A. 7.

The Board then addressed the fifth and sixth DuPont factors relating to the strength of the mark. It found that those factors were neutral because the record lacked meaningful evidence of strength or weakness and noted that the applicant’s offering of limited third-party uses, each involving differently modified “BASIN” terms, fell short of showing any conceptual or commercial weakness of the cited marks. Id. at 7–10. Finally, the Board found that the applicant ’s mark was similar to the cited marks, and thus that the first DuPont factor favored a likelihood of confusion . Id. at 11–16. The Board emphasized that the term “BASIN” was the dominant feature across the marks. Id. at 14–16. Furthermore, it explained that the surrounding non-dominant wording did not change the overall commercial impression of any of the marks because those additional terms were either generic company designations or provided mere geographic connotations without any other stronger source-identifying features. Id.

IN RE: AMOSS 5

In sum, because the DuPont factors for comparing the similarity of the goods, commonality of trade channels and customers, and similarity of marks favored a likelihood of confusion, while the remaining strength factors were neutral , the Board upheld the Class 30 refusal. Id. at 16–17.

II

The Examining Attorney also refused registration for “BASIN BEVERAGE CO.” under International Classes 32 and 33 based on a cited registration for the mark “NEW BASIN DISTILLING COMPANY” for goods in Class 33 identified as “liquor.”5 Decision, J.A. 2; J.A. 194, 240, 521– 524. The Examining Attorney found the marks similar because each shared the identical dominant term “BASIN,” and the modifiers (“NEW,” “DISTILLING COMPANY,” “BEVERAGE CO.”) were descriptive or otherwise less source-identifying. J.A. 194, 240, 521–524. The Examining Attorney further explained that the registrant’s good, “liquor,” is related to the applicant’s goods, beer and wine, based on third-party evidence showing that beer, wine, and liquor commonly emanate from a single source under one mark. J.A. 386 (noting attached evidence), 387–431 (evidence attached to reconsideration denial).

The Board affirmed the Examining Attorney’s registration refusals. It agreed, regarding the second DuPont factor , that while the application and cited registration are not directed to identical goods, the evidence demonstrated a close relationship among beer, wine, and liquor. Decision , J.A. 17–18. Specifically, the Board credited “record evidence” that “several companies sell both beer (and/or wine) and liquor under the same mark.” Id. at 18 (citing J.A. 525–26 (citing J.A. 387–431)). The Board also found

5 NEW BASIN DISTILLING COMPANY (Reg.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In Re AMOSS, (Fed. Cir. 2025).

In Re AMOSS (In Re AMOSS) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Palisades Pageants, Inc. v. Miss America Pageant
442 F.2d 1385 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1971)
In Re National Data Corporation
753 F.2d 1056 (Federal Circuit, 1985)
In Re Electrolyte Laboratories, Inc.
929 F.2d 645 (Federal Circuit, 1990)
Coach Services, Inc. v. Triumph Learning LLC
668 F.3d 1356 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Herbko International, Inc. v. Kappa Books, Inc.
308 F.3d 1156 (Federal Circuit, 2002)
In Re Majestic Distilling Company, Inc
315 F.3d 1311 (Federal Circuit, 2003)
In Re Oppedahl & Larson LLP
373 F.3d 1171 (Federal Circuit, 2004)
In Re Chatam International Incorporated
380 F.3d 1340 (Federal Circuit, 2004)
In Re: I.am.symbolic, LLC
866 F.3d 1315 (Federal Circuit, 2017)
In Re: Detroit Athletic Co.
903 F.3d 1297 (Federal Circuit, 2018)
In re E. I. DuPont DeNemours & Co.
476 F.2d 1357 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1973)
Wella Corp. v. California Concept Corp.
558 F.2d 1019 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1977)
In re Clorox Co.
578 F.2d 305 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1978)