We’ll soon see whether coffee truly goes hand in hand with closers, at least in one famous brand owner’s quest for registration of a non-verbal, non-traditional color trademark at the USPTO. I’ve been noticing Starbucks focus on green straws lately, with the door signage shown below, offering a pretty creative use of “look-for advertising” without using those clunky words:

StarbucksGreenStrawSo, my search of filings at the USPTO was expected to find at least one supporting a claim of ownership to it, but what I found instead is a brewing battle over the green dot on a white cup:

Original December 3, 2012 Drawing for U.S. App. Ser. No. 85792872
Original December 3, 2012 Drawing for U.S. App. Ser. No. 85792872
Original December 3, 2012 Specimen for U.S. App. Ser. No. 85792872
Original December 3, 2012 Specimen for U.S. App. Ser. No. 85792872

Two months ago the USPTO issued a final refusal, maintaining previously issued grounds for refusal, including “the refusals related to the specimen and drawing not matching, the failure to function refusal based on the color mark being nondistinctive, the failure to function as a mark due to nondistinctive background design, and the claims of acquired distinctiveness being insufficient are all made final.”

According to the Examining Attorney: “As an initial matter, it is important to point out that the main issue in this application is whether the mark as shown in the specimens matches the drawing. The applicant has applied for a solid green circle background carrier that is centrally placed on a white beverage cup. The dotted lines on the drawing indicate placement of the mark on an actual cup. The examining attorney’s position is that the only acceptable specimen is an actual white cup with a clearly identifiable green circle background carrier centrally placed in the center of the cup. As discussed below, the specimens submitted by the applicant do not match the drawing.”

And, she goes on: “A claim of acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f) cannot overcome the matching issue. Nor can any amount of evidence.”

Amended Drawing on October 13, 2015, for U.S. App. Serial No. 85792872
Amended Drawing on October 13, 2015, for U.S. App. Serial No. 85792872

The refusals were maintained despite the amendment to the drawing to add dotted lines, as shown to the right, and despite the amendment to the description of goods, which now reads: “The mark consists of a green circle placed centrally on the front exterior side of a white cup shape. The colors green and white are claimed as elements of the mark. The portions of the drawing represented by dotted lines are not claimed as elements of the mark.

Will Starbucks put this cup of coffee down, not file a Request for Reconsideration by the November 18, 2015 deadline, and fail to close on this application at the USPTO, or will it attempt to best the 200 page Office Action response it filed back in February?

Or, does this new Starbucks application filed just last week provide any insight?

But, what I really want to know is when will we see a non-traditional trademark application to protect the green straw?