1212.06(e)(vi) Parodies and Copies
In rare cases, evidence of the creation of intentional parodies and copies of an otherwise nondistinctive mark may be significant in assessing whether the mark has successfully achieved public recognition as a source indicator. In In re Serial Podcast, LLC, 126 USPQ2d 1061 (TTAB 2018), the Board found that parodies of applicant’s service on a national weekly television show, using an almost identical graphical display of applicant’s composite marks, constituted "highly unusual and highly significant evidence" that was "highly probative of acquired distinctiveness." Id. at 1076. The record also included evidence of unauthorized copying of the marks. Based on the totality of this unique evidence, the Board found that, when all the elements of the composites were taken together, the marks had acquired distinctiveness. Id. at 1078. The Board noted, however, that the finding of acquired distinctiveness was limited to the particular display of the composite marks as a whole, and did not extend to the individual components taken separately, or to anything less than the whole. Id.