Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V.
The Court
The Supreme Court sits as a whole rather than in panels.
- Chief Justice of the United States John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Justice Clarence Thomas
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Justice Stephen Gerald Breyer
- Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor
- Justice Elena Kagan
- Justice Neil M. Gorsuch
- Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh
Computed by Benchlight The Supreme Court publishes no panel, because every participating justice takes part. Benchlight therefore lists the justices commissioned and in active service on June 30, 2020, from Federal Judicial Center service records. Recusals are shown only where the source records them, so a justice who did not participate may still appear here.
Case history
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June 30, 2020decided Decision issued in U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V.
Opinions and writings
(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2019 1 Syllabus NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit…
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. *2301This case concerns eligibility for federal trademark registration. Respondent Booking.com, an enterprise that maintains a travel-reservation website by the same name, sought to register the mark "Booking.com." Concluding that "Booking.com" is a generic name for online hotel-reservatio…
Justice SOTOMAYOR, concurring. The question before the Court here is simple: whether there is a nearly per se rule against trademark protection for a "generic.com" term. See ante , at 2304 - 2305; post , at 2314 (BREYER, J., dissenting). I agree with the Court that there is no such rule, a holding that accords with how the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has treated such terms in the past. See…
Justice BREYER, dissenting. What is Booking.com? To answer this question, one need only consult the term itself. Respondent provides an online booking service. The company's name informs the consumer of the basic nature of its business and nothing more. Therein lies the root of my disagreement with the majority. Trademark law does not protect generic terms, meaning terms that do no more than name the product or ser…