In Re REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedNovember 5, 2020
Docket20-1282
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS (In Re REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS, (Fed. Cir. 2020).

Opinion

Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 1 Filed: 11/05/2020

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

IN RE: REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS, INC., Appellant ______________________

2020-1282 ______________________

Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Nos. 87285383, 87285412. ______________________

Decided: November 5, 2020 ______________________

DAVID P. GORDON, Gordon & Jacobson P.C., Stamford, CT, for appellant. Also represented by CHRISTIAN MANNINO.

THOMAS L. CASAGRANDE, Office of the Solicitor, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Alexandria, VA, for appellee Andrei Iancu. Also represented by CHRISTINA J. HIEBER, THOMAS W. KRAUSE, MEREDITH HOPE SCHOENFELD. ______________________

Before MOORE, O’MALLEY, and TARANTO, Circuit Judges. O’MALLEY, Circuit Judge. Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 2 Filed: 11/05/2020

2 IN RE: REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS

Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc. (“Reelex”) appeals from a final decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”), affirming the examining attorney’s re- fusal to register two box designs for electric cables and wire on grounds that the designs are functional under Sec- tion 2(e)(5) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(e)(5). In re Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc., Nos. 87285383, 87285412, 2019 BL 481341 (T.T.A.B. Oct. 23, 2019) (Board Decision). Reelex also appeals the Board’s determination that the designs have not acquired distinctiveness. Be- cause substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that the designs are functional, we affirm. BACKGROUND Reelex describes its “tangle-free technology” as “a pa- tented method of winding a filamentary product (such as cord, wire, cable or tubing) into a figure-eight coil on a spe- cialized coiling machine.” J.A. 229. Reelex licenses pa- tents and trademarks associated with this technology to wire and cable manufacturers. Reelex explains that “[t]hose manufacturers use proprietary winding machines that are designed, manufactured, and patented by Reelex, and use Reelex knowhow to wind the cable and wire into finished coils of cable and wire.” Appellant Br. 10. The finished coils are then packaged into a “Reelex Box.” Ac- cording to Reelex, its “proprietary winding machines wind cable in a figure-eight pattern that allows the cable and wire to be dispensed or ‘paid out’ from the box without kinking and tangling.” Id. at 10–11. In December 2016, Reelex filed two applications seek- ing to register the box designs shown below for coils of ca- bles and wire in International Class 9. Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 3 Filed: 11/05/2020

IN RE: REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS 3

Application Serial Application Serial No. 87285383 No. 87285412 (the ’383 trade dress) (the ’412 trade dress) The ’383 trade dress includes the following description: The mark consists of trade dress for a coil of cable or wire, the trade dress comprising a box having six sides, four sides being rectangular and two sides being substantially square, the substantially square sides both having a length of between 12 and 14 inches, the rectangular sides each having a length of between 12 and 14 inches and a width of between 7.5 and 9 inches and a ratio of width to length of between 60% and 70%, one, and only one rectangular side having a circular hole of between 0.75 and 1.00 inches in the exact middle of the side with a tube extending through the hole and through which the coil is dispensed from the pack- age, the tube having an outer end extending be- yond an outer surface of the rectangular side, and a collar extending around the outer end of the tube on the outer surface of the rectangular side of the package, and one square side having a line folding assembly bisecting the square side. Board Decision, 2019 BL 481341, at *1–2. Reelex refers to the box in the ’383 trade dress as the REELEX I box. As shown above, the ’383 box includes a plastic “payout tube” Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 4 Filed: 11/05/2020

4 IN RE: REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS

with a relatively smaller opening and a collar with a clip to hold the end of the wire. Reelex lists this box for use with smaller wire and cable, typically with coil diameters of 9– 16 inches. Id. at *2. The ’412 trade dress includes the following description: The mark consists of trade dress for a coil of cable or wire, the trade dress comprising a box having six sides, four sides being rectangular and two sides being substantially square, the substantially square sides both having a length of between 13 and 21 inches, the rectangular sides each having a length of the same length of the square sides and a width of between 57% and 72% of the size of the length, one, and only one rectangular side having a circular hole of 4.00 inches in the exact middle of the side with a tube extending in the hole and through which the coil is dispensed from the pack- age, one square side having a tongue and a groove at an edge adjacent the rectangular side having the circular opening, and the rectangular side having the circular opening having a tongue and a groove with the tongue of each respective side extending into the groove of each respective side at a corner therebetween. Id. Reelex refers to the box in the ’412 trade dress as the REELEX II box. As shown above, the ’412 box has a rela- tively larger payout opening and has a handle cut-out above the payout hole. Reelex lists this box for use with structured networking cable, coaxial cable, and other less- flexible wire or cable. Id. The examining attorney refused registration, finding Reelex’s trade dress functional and nondistinctive. The ex- amining attorney further found that the designs do not function as trademarks to indicate the source of the goods identified in the applications. Reelex timely appealed the Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 5 Filed: 11/05/2020

IN RE: REELEX PACKAGING SOLUTIONS 5

final refusal to the Board, and the Board conducted an oral hearing in August 2019. 1 On October 23, 2019, the Board issued the decision at issue on appeal, affirming the examining attorney’s refusal to register on two grounds: functionality and distinctive- ness. 2 As to functionality, the Board explained that “[c]er- tain features of these boxes are clearly dictated by utilitarian concerns,” including: (1) the “rectangular shape of the boxes . . . which is useful for shipping and storing;” and (2) the built-in handle in the ’412 design, which makes it easier to lift and carry the box. Id. at *3. The Board further found that the “dimensions of the boxes and the size and placement of the payout tubes and payout holes are dictated by the amount and size of the electric wire and cable placed in the box.” Id. Next, the Board explained that Reelex’s figure 8 wind- ing system, shown below, has a coil that is unwound from its center, with the leading edge of the wire or cable threaded through a diamond-shaped opening.

1 Given the common issues of law and fact, the Board consolidated the appeals. 2 Because it affirmed on two independent grounds, the Board found it unnecessary to reach the refusal based on the third ground—that the designs do not function as marks to indicate the source of the goods identified. Id. at *17, n.64. Case: 20-1282 Document: 36 Page: 6 Filed: 11/05/2020

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Id. at *4. Given this configuration, the Board found “that several features are useful in a box made for a figure 8 wound coil,” including a payout hole to allow users to take advantage of the twist-free dispensing, and a payout tube “extending from the payout hole to the center of the coil . . .

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