Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Jun 27, 2007

No. 79007387 (T.T.A.B. Jun. 27, 2007)

Mailed:
27 June 2007

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________

In re Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH
________

Serial No. 79007387
_______

Ursula B. Day, Esq. for Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH.

Brian Pino, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office 114
(K. Margaret Le, Managing Attorney).
_______

Before Drost, Cataldo, and Mermelstein, Administrative
Trademark Judges.

Opinion by Drost, Administrative Trademark Judge:

On July 30, 2004, applicant (Salzgitter Flachstahl
GmbH) filed an application under the provision of Section
66(a) of the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C. § 1141f) to register
the mark HSD, in standard character form, on the Principal
Register for goods that were ultimately identified as:
“Sheets and plates of metal for further manufacture into
land vehicle body parts, namely steel sheets, steel sheets
coated on one or both sides with zinc, and steel sheets
coated on one or both sides with plastic” in Class 6.
THIS OPINION IS NOT A
PRECEDENT OF THE TTAB
Ser No. 79007387
2
Applicant’s International Registration No. 0839098
issued July 30, 2004. The International Registration is
based on an underlying German application (No. 304 06
650.8/06) filed February 2, 2004, which issued on April 8
2004, as German Registration No. 304 06 650.8/06. As a
result, applicant is entitled to a priority date of
February 2, 2004.
The examining attorney has now refused to register
applicant’s mark on the ground that the mark is merely
descriptive under Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act (15
U.S.C. § 1052(e)(1)) for these goods. The examining
attorney argues that HSD is an acronym for “High Strength
Deformed” for steel and “the proposed mark immediately
tells the customer that the goods use high strength
deformed or are high strength deformed steel.” Brief at
unnumbered p. 5. To support his argument, the examining
attorney relies on the following evidence.
First, the Acronym Finder lists “High Strength
Deformed (steel)” as one of the acronym definitions of HSD.1
Next, the examining attorney submitted an html version
of the file entitled VENETO INDIA2 that contained numerous

1 Other definitions include high school diploma, high speed data,
high speed diesel, high speed drill, heat sensing device, and hot
spot detector.
2 http://www.ro.camcom.it/upload/dl/internazionalizzazione/
India_business_meetings_programmaeportfolio.pdf.
Ser No. 79007387
3
listings including the following one that is primarily in
Italian:
11. Ditta Purvi Bharat Steels Limited
Addeti 150
Anno Fond 1997
Fatturato annuo 3.500.000 EUR
Produzione: barre in acciaio
Production: High Strength Deform (H.S.D.), steel bars
Area di interesse/cooperazione richiesta: offerta di
capacita produttiva per accordi di subformitura.
Richiesta di know-how assistenza tecnica

Inasmuch as this listing is not primarily in English
and there is no translation of the Italian words in the
listing, this article is entitled to little weight.
The examining attorney’s third piece of evidence is
entitled ISO-9000 Certified SSI/Ancillary Units reimbursed
under the Incentive Scheme of the Office of DC(SSI),
Ministry of SSI.3 The 56th listing is the only relevant
entry:
56. Barnala Steel Industries Ltd.,
Vill. Vehlana, Meerut Road Muzaffarnagar –2511003(UP)
Muzaffarnagar UTTAR PRADESH
Certifying Agency : IRQS ISO 9002
Scope : Manufacture & supply of high strength deformed
(HSD) steel bars and structural steel
Sanction Letter Date : 18-10-2000

With his final Office action, the examining attorney
submitted the following information (except for the
ellipsis, the language and punctuation are set out as they

3 www.smallindustryindia.com/iso/isoremb.jsp?var=B.
Ser No. 79007387
4
appear in the original) about M/S Shyam Steel Industries
Ltd.4
High Strength Deformed Steel Bars is manufactured at
our state of the art plants are superior to other
conventional Bars available in the market. Our bars
bear their origins to raw materials (Billets & Slabs)
procured from Steel Authority of India Ltd. Our bars
are manufactured in our bars & rod mill which is
technologically one of the advanced in India. Strict
quality control procedures are applied during all
stages of production.

The resultant steel is of superior quality and utmost
precision with mechanical qualities, which are
consistent and predictable. Unique In-Process quality
control ensures excellent dimensional tolerance &
surface quality free from scratches & laps. We are
also licensed with BIS for IS: 1786, the relevant
specification for HSD steel Bars… Our HSD Bars possess
a combination of strength and ductility that is far in
excess of minimum limits specified in the standard IS:
1786. The yield strength values of our HSD Steel Bars
are much higher than the specified value of 415 N/MM2.

Other evidence consists of an entry for Bhagwandas
Metals Limited that explains that the company manufactures
“hi-strength Deformed Steel Bars (also called Cold Twisted
Deformed Bars) conforming to IS specifications… This urge
led to the introduction of HSD Bars which brought about a
revolution in the re-inforced concrete construction
industry.” www.metal-bml.com/product.html. See also
http://www.123india.com/business-and-economy/companies/

4 http://steelroll.indianyellowpages.com/hsd-steel-bars-
1001112.htm.
Ser No. 79007387
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iron-and-steel/ (“Kamdhenu Ispat Ltd. – HSD (High Strength
Deformed) steel bars for bridges, railways, etc.”);
http://members.tripod.com/str_n_tips/eq/eq4.htm (Earthquake
Resistant Construction - “HSD steel were used for vertical
reinforcement”).
Another article entitled Non Engineered Reinforced
Concrete Buildings contains the following information:
“Minimum overlap in bars: 45 times the diameter of the bar
for plain mild steel and 60 times the diameter for high
strength deformed bar. The overlapping portion should
preferably be wound with binding wire” and subsequently the
listing of “HSD” under a table of “Recommended limits on
steel area ratio in beam.” www.nicee.org. Finally, a form
apparently from an Indian railroad company
(www.westcentralrailway.com) specifies as part of its
requirements that “all steel bars used in the work shall be
H.S.D. bars/TOR steel confirm [sic] to the latest version
of IG-1700-1905.”
In response, applicant argues that:
The Examiner has shown only that HSD is used for steel
bars by a certain manufacturer in India. Of the 43
attachments the Examiner produced to support his
contention as to HSD being descriptive of steel
products in general, only attachment # 3 2-1 and # 7 4
by a certain manufacturer in India show HSD in
relation steel bars. There are no further references
evidencing that steel products in general are referred
to as HSD.
Ser No. 79007387
6

Applicant submits that applicant’s goods are not steel
bars but steel sheets for the manufacture of body
parts for vehicles, as well as coated steel sheets and
plates. Accordingly, HSD is not unequivocally
associated with steel as such.

Reply Brief at 2.5

For a mark to be merely descriptive, it must
immediately convey “knowledge of a quality, feature,
function, or characteristics of the goods or services.” In
re Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, ___ F.3d ____, 82 USPQ2d 1828,
1831 (Fed. Cir. 2007). See also In re Gyulay, 820 F.2d
1216, 3 USPQ2d 1009, 1009 (Fed. Cir. 1987); and In re Quik-
Print Copy Shops, Inc., 616 F.2d 523, 205 USPQ 505, 507
(CCPA 1980). To be “merely descriptive,” a term need only
describe a single significant quality or property of the
goods. Gyulay, 3 USPQ2d at 1009 (Fed. Cir. 1987);
Meehanite Metal Corp. v. International Nickel Co., 262 F.2d
806, 120 USPQ 293, 294 (CCPA 1959). Descriptiveness of a
mark is not considered in the abstract, but in relation to
the particular goods or services for which registration is
sought. In re Abcor Development Corp., 588 F.2d 811, 200
USPQ 215, 218 (CCPA 1978).

5 The examining attorney has objected to, and we sustain the
objection to, the new evidence that applicant submitted with its
appeal brief.
Ser No. 79007387
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In this case, the question is whether the initials HSD
are merely descriptive when used on applicant’s steel
sheets. We point out that applicant is not seeking
registration for a word but rather initials. The Court of
Customs and Patent Appeals, one of the predecessors of our
principal reviewing court, has discussed the question of
whether letters that correspond to the initial letters of a
descriptive combination of words are similarly descriptive.
Modern Optics, Inc. v. Univis Lens Co., 234 F.2d 504, 110
USPQ 293, 295 (CCPA 1956) (citations omitted):
The letters "CV" are, of course, the initial letters
of the words "continuous vision," and it is possible
for initial letters to become so associated with
descriptive words as to become descriptive themselves.
It does not follow, however, that all initials or
combinations of descriptive words are ipso facto
unregistrable. While each case must be determined on
the basis of the particular facts involved, it would
seem that, as a general rule, initials cannot be
considered descriptive unless they have become so
generally understood as representing descriptive words
as to be accepted as substantially synonymous
therewith.

See also Avtex Fibers Inc. v. Gentex Corporation, 223 USPQ
625, 626 (TTAB 1984).
In order to find that applicant’s term HSD is merely
descriptive, we must find that the underlying term “High
Strength Deformed (steel) is at least merely descriptive of
applicant’s goods and that initials HSD are “generally
understood as representing descriptive words and are
Ser No. 79007387
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substantially synonymous with those words. Inasmuch as the
evidence does not permit us to conclude that either “High
Strength Deformed (steel)” is merely a descriptive term or,
even if it were, that HSD is substantially synonymous with
that term, we reverse the refusal in this case.
Ultimately, the issue here comes down to what
conclusion the evidence permits us to draw. The examining
attorney’s evidence consists of essentially two types. We
begin, perhaps not at the beginning, but by considering the
Acronym Finder and the Free Dictionary by Farlex entries,
which do list “High Strength Deformed (steel)” as one of
the definitions of HSD. Certainly, this is some evidence
to show that initials are merely descriptive. However, it
is not conclusive, and we must look for other evidence that
shows that the initials are commonly understood as
representing descriptive terms. See, e.g., Capital Project
Management Inc. v. IMDISI Inc., 70 USPQ2d 1172, 1182 (TTAB
2003) (“Based on the extensive record in this case, we
conclude that the initialism ‘TIA’ has become so generally
understood as representing the generic term ‘time impact
analysis’ as to be accepted as substantially synonymous
therewith”).
Therefore, we look at the second type of evidence that
the examining attorney has presented. This evidence
Ser No. 79007387
9
consists of Internet evidence. As we already pointed out,
one submission is almost entirely in Italian without an
English translation, although several English words appear
in the article. It is entitled to little weight. See In
re International Business Machines Corp., 81 USPQ2d 1677,
1681 n.7 (TTAB 2006) (emphasis added)(“In this case
involving computer technology, it is reasonable to consider
a relevant article regarding computer hardware from an
Internet web site, in English in another country”).
The other articles are in English but they seem
primarily to involve uses in India. The board has relaxed
our earlier rulings that limited the use of foreign
publications.
[I]t is reasonable to assume that professionals in
medicine, engineering, computers, telecommunications
and many other fields are likely to utilize all
available resources, regardless of country of origin
or medium. Further, the Internet is a resource that
is widely available to these same professionals and to
the general public in the United States. Particularly
in the case before us, involving sophisticated medical
technology, it is reasonable to consider a relevant
article from an Internet web site, in English, about
medical research in another country, Great Britain in
this case, because that research is likely to be of
interest worldwide regardless of its country of
origin.

In re Remacle, 66 USPQ2d 1222, 1224 n.5 (TTAB 2002).
The Federal Circuit has recently endorsed and
encouraged the use of these foreign Internet publications.
Ser No. 79007387
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Bayer, 82 USPQ2d at 1835 (“Information originating on
foreign websites or in foreign news publications that are
accessible to the United States public may be relevant to
discern United States consumer impression of a proposed
mark”). Therefore, we will consider whether these foreign,
apparently Indian, articles help the examining attorney
meet his burden of showing that the mark HSD is merely
descriptive for applicant’s goods.
Ultimately, when there is a question of
descriptiveness, we must determine whether consumers in the
United States would consider the mark to be descriptive.
Id. In this case, the few articles of record, at the very
least, leave us with doubts that applicant’s mark is merely
descriptive, at least with respect to consumers in the
Untied States. Since we agree with applicant that the
purchasers of its steel would be sophisticated purchasers,
these would be the type of purchasers that would be
“professionals … [who] are likely to utilize all available
resources, regardless of country of origin or medium.”
Remacle, 66 USPQ2d at 1224 n.5.6 However, when we look at

6 We cannot accept the examining attorney’s argument that we
“must presume that the goods are sold in small quantities at
small cost to ‘mom and pop’ type purchasers such as car repair
shops.” Brief at unnumbered p.6. There is no evidence that “mom
and pop” shops purchase “sheets and plates of metal for further
manufacture into land vehicle body parts.”
Ser No. 79007387
11
the few foreign articles of record, it is not clear if
these purchasers of steel sheets and plates in the United
States would be interested or place great significance on
(1) an article in which the term and the initials are not
used together; (2) the use of the term in Clause 120 of an
Indian Railway document; (3) a single entry of “Iron and
Steel” sites in India; (4) the 56th entry in a list of
“Certified SSI/Ancillary Units reimbursed under the
Incentive Scheme of Office of DC(SSI), Ministry of SSI” in
India; and (5) an isolated reference to “HSD steel” in an
article entitled “Earthquake Resistant Construction.” All
these entries are apparently from India. These cryptic
references hardly show that the initials are merely
descriptive in the United States. Finally, the information
about Bhagwandas Metals and Shyam Steel does not convince
us that even the words “High Strength Deformed” are merely
descriptive, much less that the initials HSD are “generally
understood as representing descriptive words” in the United
States.
We are constrained to base our decision on the limited
evidence we have before us in this case. One final
consideration in descriptiveness cases is that we must
resolve any doubts that we may have about whether
applicant’s mark is merely descriptive in applicant’s
Ser No. 79007387
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favor. In re Morton-Norwich Products, Inc., 209 USPQ 791,
791 (TTAB 1981) (The Board’s practice is “to resolve doubts
in applicant’s favor and publish the mark for opposition”).
See also Remacle, 66 USPQ2d at 1224. In this case, we
certainly do have doubts whether the term HSD is merely
descriptive for applicant’s goods in the United States.
Decision: We reverse the refusal to register
applicant’s mark on the ground that it is merely
descriptive for applicant’s goods.