Omnicor, Inc.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

May 20, 1997

EX (T.T.A.B. May. 20, 1997)

THIS DISPOSITION IS CITABLE AS
PRECEDENT OF THE TTAB May 27, 1997
Paper No. 9
TJQ
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________
In re Omnicor, Inc.
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Serial No. 74/578,307
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LaValle D. Ptak for applicant.
Priscilla Milton, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office
107 (Thomas Lamone, Managing Attorney).
_______
Before Rice, Cissel and Quinn, Administrative Trademark
Judges.
Opinion by Quinn, Administrative Trademark Judge:
An application has been filed by Omnicor, Inc. to
register the mark shown below

Ser No. 74/578,307
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for "wax-impregnated yarn strands for drawing, tracing,
spelling, [and] teaching; [and] creative art toys made of
wax-impregnated yarn strands."1
The Trademark Examining Attorney has refused
registration essentially on the ground that the applied-for
mark WIKKI (stylized), as shown in the drawing, is a
mutilation of the mark WIKKI STIX (stylized) as actually
used on the specimens of record. The mark, as it actually
appears on the specimens (which are plastic packages for the
goods), is reproduced below.

1Application Serial No. 74/578,307, filed September 26, 1994,
alleging dates of first use of January 5, 1990. Applicant is
the owner of Registration No. 1,701,938.
Ser No. 74/578,307
3
Applicant maintains that its mark WIKKI conveys a
separate and distinct commercial impression apart from the
composite mark WIKKI STIX. Applicant further asserts that
it owns Registration No. 1,701,938 for the composite mark
WIKKI STIX (stylized) for the same goods as those listed in
the present application. Applicant states that its
customers, from time to time, simply refer to the products
as "Wikki" or "Wikki's." Thus, according to applicant,
"registration of the separate term 'WIKKI' is in order, most
fully to protect applicant's rights in its mark, whether the
mark is used in a full two-word form 'WIKKI STIX' or is used
in the abbreviated form 'WIKKI.'"
The Examining Attorney contends that the mark sought to
be registered, WIKKI, does not create a commercial
impression separate and apart from the mark WIKKI STIX as
actually used on the specimens of record.
One may use a composite mark in connection with a
product and register separately its elements if each element
is used in such a manner as to create a separate and
distinct commercial impression from the other elements and
does in fact, per se, identify and distinguish this product
from the product of others. See, e.g.: In re Jane P.
Semans, 193 USPQ 727 (TTAB 1976); and In re San Diego
National League Baseball Club, Inc., 224 USPQ 1067 (TTAB
1983). Thus, the issue presented here is whether the
Ser No. 74/578,307
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specimens of record show trademark use of WIKKI conveying
such a separate impression.
The specimens, as reproduced above, show use of WIKKI
in the same script as STIX. Applicant has made no effort on
the specimens to emphasize any one portion of WIKKI STIX.
Thus, to our eyes, the specimens show WIKKI STIX as a
unitary mark, and WIKKI does not project a separate and
distinct commercial impression apart from the remainder of
applicant's mark.2
Applicant's assertion that customers refer to its goods
as "Wikki" or "Wikki's" is not supported by any evidence in
the record and, in any event, is not persuasive of a
different result, given the actual use of the mark on the
specimens.
We conclude that WIKKI is used merely as a part of the
unitary mark WIKKI STIX and that, as used on the specimens,
WIKKI does not function as a trademark in and of itself. In
sum, WIKKI is a mutilation of the mark WIKKI STIX as
actually used by applicant and encountered by purchasers on
the specimens.
Decision: The refusal to register is affirmed.
J. E. Rice

2Further, as shown by the specimens, the mark WIKKI STIX is used
for a second time, just below the prominent display of the mark
in the style of script shown in the drawing. This time, WIKKI
STIX appears on one line and in the same bold type.
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R. F. Cissel
T. J. Quinn
Administrative Trademark Judges
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Ser No. 74/578,307
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