Didn't your mother warn you of innappropriate associations?
Trademarks are catch phrases, logos, and even color schemes that you may associate with your goods or services that you use in your business. Here's a recent case on trademarks.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit In re Shinnecock Smoke Shop, 2009-1100 (July 1, 2009), upheld decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") and the US Patent and Trademark Office that denied registration of the trademarks, Shinnecock Brand Full Flavor and Shinnecock Brand Lights, for cigarettes. The Federal Circuit held that the marks violated Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1052(a). That section prohibits registering marks that falsely suggest a connection with a non-sponsoring entity, and Shinnecock refers to a Native American Indian tribe that has no connection to the products. Among other things, the Applicant claimed that failure to allow registration demonstrated a pattern of discrimination against Native American Indians attempting to register marks. The Federal Circuit held the claim meritless, as the Applicant provided no support for his claims of discrimination. Even if true, however, the claims of discrimination could not be justification for allowing the Applicant's improper registration, but rather an argument for disallowing the other registrations.
The point? You can't select a trademark that inappropriately associates itself with another group. Consumers might think the group endorses your products and services when in fact they don't.
