Habanos, S. A.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Nov 23, 1998

No. 75011205 (T.T.A.B. Nov. 23, 1998)

Paper No. 16
HRW
11/23/98
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________
In re Habanos, S.A.
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Serial No. 75/011,205
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Michael Krinsky of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky &
Lieberman, P.C. for applicant.
Leigh Case, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office 105
(Thomas G. Howell, Managing Attorney).
_______
Before Cissel, Hanak and Wendel, Administrative Trademark
Judges.
Opinion by Wendel, Administrative Trademark Judge:
Habanos, S.A. has filed an application to register the
mark VEGUEROS for “raw tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, cut
tobacco, rappee, manufactured tobacco of all kinds,
matches, tobacco, smoking pipes, pipe holders-not of
precious metal, ashtrays-not of precious metal, match
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2
boxes-not of precious metal, cigar cases-not of precious
metal, humidors-not of precious metal.”1
Registration has been finally refused on the ground
that the mark is merely descriptive under Section 2(e)(1)
of the Trademark Act.2 Applicant and the Examining Attorney
have filed briefs, but no oral hearing was requested.
The Examining Attorney maintains that applicant’s mark
VEGUEROS is the foreign equivalent of the word “cigars” and
thus merely describes, or is the generic name for,
applicant’s goods, which include cigars, cigarettes, and
various forms of tobacco. To support her position, the
Examining Attorney has introduced a copy of the following
definition from Cassell’s Spanish-English English-Spanish
Dictionary (1982)
veguero, -ra, a., of fertile plain. – n.m.,
cigar; (Hisp. Am.) tobacco-planter.
Applicant, on the other hand, argues that the
principal meaning to most Spanish-speaking persons of the

1 The application was filed under Section 44(e) of the Trademark
Act, based on applicant’s Cuban Registration No. 121,967, issued
Jan. 18, 1995.
2 The Examining Attorney also made final the requirement for the
submission of a translation of the word “vegueros” as “cigars.”
Applicant had previously submitted the translation “a farmer of a
fertile lowland” or “a tobacco farmer or planter.” The Examining
Attorney has not separately argued this basis for refusal in her
brief, and in view of our disposition of the case, we reverse the
requirement for a further translation. The present translation
is accepted.
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word “veguero,” when used as a noun, is “one who farms a
lowland”, or, specifically in Cuba, “a tobacco planter or
farmer.” In support thereof, applicant has submitted the
following translation from Simon and Schuster’s
International Dictionary (1973)
veguero, ra, a., 1. pertaining to a fertile lowland.
2.(Cuba) pertaining to a tobacco plantation.
-m.,f. 1. one who farms a lowland. 2. (Cuba) tobacco
planter or farmer. –m. fine type of cigar made from
a single rolled leaf.
Applicant has also made of record the declaration of Juana
Quinones Goergen, an Assistant Professor of Modern
Languages at DePaul University. Professor Goergen states
that the principal definition of “veguero” in Spanish, when
used as a noun, is “one who farms a lowland”, while in Cuba
its principal meaning is “tobacco planter or farmer.” She
further states that
[s]ome Spanish-English dictionaries indicate a
secondary definition which is specific only to
Cuba of the noun “veguero” as a “cigar”; this is not,
however, the way in which the word is commonly
understood or used either in Cuba or in other Spanish-
speaking countries. The word “vegueros” would not
likely be understood to describe the tobacco product
itself but rather would be understood to refer to a
farmer in general or to the person who engages in the
cultivation of tobacco.
Applicant argues that since the word has other
meanings besides “cigar”, and the remaining are at best
suggestive, VEGUEROS cannot be held merely descriptive of
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4
applicant’s goods, citing In re Atavio Inc., 25 USPQ2d 1361
(TTAB 1992). The Examining Attorney, in response, contends
that the fact that other meanings exist for the word
“vegueros” should not detract from its descriptive, or even
generic, significance in connection with the present goods.
It is well established that a foreign equivalent from
a non-obscure language of a merely descriptive English term
is no more registrable than the English term itself,
despite the fact that the foreign term may not be commonly
known to the general public in the United States. In re
Atavio Inc., supra at 1362; In re Geo. A. Hormel & Co., 227
USPQ 813 (TTAB 1985). But at the same time, as we stated
in Atavio, the standard of equivalency to be applied to a
foreign term versus an English term under Section 2(e)(1)
is identical to that which was applied by the Court to a
foreign term versus an English term under Section 2(d) in
In re Sarkli, 721 F.2d 353, 220 USPQ 111, 113 (Fed. Cir.
1983). The required equivalency of the terms is no less
stringent than that applicable to two English terms.
In the present case, the Spanish word “vegueros” must
be shown to be the equivalent of the English word “cigars”
to be merely descriptive of any of applicant’s goods. On
the basis of the dictionary definitions before us, however,
we find it difficult to conclude that, in the United
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States, “vegueros” would be so interpreted. It is readily
apparent that there is more than one recognized translation
for the term. Even if we limit ourselves to the meanings
the dictionaries indicate the term has in Cuba, because the
goods come from Cuba, we still are confronted with two
different meanings, “tobacco farmer or planter” as well as
“cigar.”
We find the determinative factor to be the declaration
of Professor Goergen with respect to the meanings which
would be most commonly attributed to the term by most
Spanish-speaking persons in this country. The most
recognized English equivalents would accordingly be either
“a farmer in general” or “a tobacco planter.” Even with
the most applicable translation, the general connotation
would be that of a person involved with tobacco, not the
tobacco product itself.
Accordingly, on the record before us, we are led to
the conclusion that VEGUEROS is not merely descriptive of
applicant’s goods. While we admit that this determination
is not without some doubt, as was the case in Atavio, we
find it appropriate to resolve this doubt in favor of
applicant and to allow the application to go forward to
publication.
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Decision: The refusal to register under Section
2(e)(1) is reversed.
R. F. Cissel
E. W. Hanak
H. R. Wendel
Trademark Administrative Judges,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
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