Kerry Joyce

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Jan 18, 2006

No. 78250129 (T.T.A.B. Jan. 18, 2006)

Mailed:
January 18, 2006

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________

In re Kerry Joyce
________

Serial No. 78250129
_______

Lee Palmateer of Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti, P.C,
for Joyce Kerry.

Amy Gearin, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office 115
(Tomas V. Vlcek, Managing Attorney).
_______

Before Seeherman, Quinn and Kuhlke, Administrative
Trademark Judges.

Opinion by Seeherman, Administrative Trademark Judge:

Kerry Joyce, an individual, has appealed from the
final refusal of the Trademark Examining Attorney to
register BRIEF SHEETS as a mark for the following goods and
services:
Printed instructional pamphlets on a
wide variety of subjects, namely
etiquette and manners, grammar, thank
you notes, special occasions,
birthdays, graduations, debutant balls,
dances, weddings, funerals, fashion and
clothes, health and beauty care, diet,
THIS DISPOSITION IS NOT
CITABLE AS PRECEDENT OF
THE TTAB
Ser No. 78250129
2
cooking, architecture, interior design,
furniture, landscaping, gardening, home
construction, home maintenance and
repair, computers and electronics,
English and other languages, history,
current events, arts and crafts,
photography, science, automobiles, and
automobile maintenance (Class 16);

Online publications, namely,
instructional pamphlets on a wide
variety of subjects, namely, etiquette
and manners, grammar, thank you notes,
special occasions, birthdays,
graduations, debutant balls, dances,
weddings, funerals, fashion and
clothes, health and beauty care, diet,
cooking, architecture, interior design,
furniture, landscaping, gardening, home
construction, home maintenance and
repair, computers and electronics,
English and other languages, history,
current events, arts and crafts,
photography, science, automobiles, and
automobile maintenance; online
instructional information in the field
of photography (Class 41).1

Registration has been refused pursuant to Section 2(e)(1)
of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(e)(1), on the ground
that applicant’s mark is merely descriptive of her
identified goods and services.
Applicant and the Examining Attorney filed briefs.
Applicant did not request an oral hearing.
We turn first to a procedural point. On November 15,
2005, three months after the mailing of the Examining

1 Application Serial No. 78250129, filed November 12, 2004 based
on Section 1(b) of the Trademark Act.
Ser No. 78250129
3
Attorney’s brief, applicant filed an objection to the
Examining Attorney’s request that we take judicial notice
of certain definitions of “brief” and “sheet” that she had
submitted as part of her brief. Applicant’s objection is
that the definitions submitted by the Examining Attorney do
not show all the meanings of “brief” and “sheet.”
Applicant also requests that, if the Board does take
judicial notice of the definitions submitted by the
Examining Attorney, we also take judicial notice of the
entire definitions of these words which applicant has
submitted with her request.
Applicant has provided no explanation as to why she
waited until three months after the mailing of the
Examining Attorney’s brief to raise an objection. The time
for filing a reply brief (which applicant chose not to do)
is twenty days from the filing of the Examining Attorney’s
brief. We see no reason for allowing applicant to raise
her objection to our taking judicial notice so much later
than the deadline for filing a reply brief, when such an
objection could have been raised in a reply brief.
Accordingly, applicant’s objection is overruled. Moreover,
we do not consider the Examining Attorney’s listing of
specific definitions for “brief” and “sheet” in her brief
to have been done in an effort to mislead the Board. She
Ser No. 78250129
4
used these definitions as being, in her view, the apt
meanings for the words in applicant’s mark, as they would
be understood in connection with the identified goods and
services. As she also pointed out in her brief, “the fact
that a term may have different meanings in another context
is not controlling on the question of descriptiveness.”
p. 3, citing In re Bright-Crest, Ltd., 204 USPQ 591 (TTAB
1979).
We also deny applicant’s request that we take judicial
notice of the dictionary definitions submitted with her
November 15, 2005 request. Applicant’s request is not
timely. Applicant could have filed a reply brief
requesting that we take judicial notice of additional
dictionary definitions. As we previously stated, applicant
chose not to do so, and we will not, in effect, extend the
time for filing a reply brief by this means. We note,
however, that applicant had previously made of record
various definitions of “brief,” and these definitions have
been considered.
In applicant’s brief, she states that during the
examination of the application the Examining Attorney made
of record certain Internet materials, but that “The scroll
bars on the right hand side of each purported piece of
evidence indicates that there is more information that was
Ser No. 78250129
5
not made part of the record.” p. 7. Applicant made this
comment in connection with her point that the information
in these materials which use the words “brief sheet” may
not in fact be short in length or concise, and we do not
regard this statement as an objection that the Examining
Attorney truncated documents in order to omit material that
would be favorable to applicant. In any event, applicant
could have submitted additional portions of the website
material if she had thought it useful for her position.
This brings us to the substantive ground for refusal.
It is the Examining Attorney’s position that the mark is
merely descriptive because it describes a significant
attribute of applicant’s goods and services, namely, that
the identified instructional pamphlets, both printed and
online, feature brief sheets or summaries of information on
a variety of subjects. Applicant, on the other hand,
argues that “brief sheets” can have many different
meanings, since the word “brief” can be a verb, a noun or
an adjective, and therefore one cannot know from the mark
whether the goods are documents of short length (the
adjectival meaning of “brief”), or are “authoritative
memoranda, or abstracts of a larger document, or precise
instructions on how to do something, or documents providing
the essential information regarding specific subject
Ser No. 78250129
6
matter, or an outline” (the noun meanings of brief).2
Brief, p. 7.
A mark is merely descriptive, and therefore prohibited
from registration by Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act,
if it immediately conveys knowledge of the ingredients,
qualities or characteristics of the goods or services in
connection with which it is used. On the other hand, if
imagination, thought or perception is required to reach a
conclusion on the nature of the goods or services, the mark
is suggestive and registrable. See In re Gyulay, 820 F.2d
1216, 3 USPQ2d 1009 (Fed. Cir. 1987). The question of
whether a particular term is merely descriptive must be
determined not in the abstract, but in relation to the
goods or services for which registration is sought, the
context in which the mark is used, and the significance
that the mark is likely to have, because of the manner in
which it is used, to the average purchaser as he encounters
goods bearing the mark or services with which the mark is

2 The noun definitions of “brief” provided by applicant are
“1.: an official letter or mandate; especially: a papal letter
less formal than a bull; 2a: a concise article b: SYNOPSIS,
SUMMARY c: a concise statement of a client’s case made out for
the instruction of counsel in a trial at law; 3: an outline of an
argument; especially: a formal outline especially in law that
sets forth the main contentions with supporting statements or
evidence; 4 plural: short snug pants or underpants.” Merriam-
Webster Online Dictionary.
Ser No. 78250129
7
used in the marketplace. In re Engineering Systems Corp.,
2 USPQ2d 1075 (TTAB 1986).
The Examining Attorney has made of record a number of
articles taken from the NEXIS database, as well as
materials taken from the Internet.3 We note that in some of
these materials the word “brief” is used in its adjectival
meaning of “short in …length,”4 such that the combined words
“brief sheet” indicate that there is a limited amount of
information on a piece of paper. See, for example, the
following:
Here’s a quick recipe for a salad that
is perfect for fall evenings.
Start by chopping up that long
ingredient list into two brief sheets:
a short staples grouping and a 10-item
list to take to the grocery store.”
“Los Angeles Times,” October 11, 1990

Summer Camp 2004 is fast approaching….
This notice includes a brief sheet on
each of the three camp facilities
providing programs in 2004.
(Notice to “all Scoutmasters, Advisors,
and Committee Chairmen” from
“Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of
America”
www.tac-
bsa.org/tac_summer_camp_information.pdf

3 One of the Internet excerpts appears to be from the website of
a city in Australia. We have not considered this excerpt in
rendering our decision.
4 The complete definition of “brief” as an adjective, supplied
by applicant from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is “1:
short in duration, extent, or length; 2a: CONCISE b: CURT,
ABRUPT.”

Ser No. 78250129
8
We do not regard such evidence as showing, in
connection with applicant’s identified goods and services,
that the phrase “brief sheets” is merely descriptive.
However, other material submitted by the Examining
Attorney shows that “brief sheet” is used as a term that
means an information summary. We note, in particular, the
following:
Before the mystery begins, all guests
are given a “brief sheet”, detailing
the weekend’s itinerary.
“Intercorp,” January 22, 1988

...he fired off a confidential memo to
the chairman, urging all “brief sheets,
option memos and other general
analyses” to be sent to his office...
“Electronic Media,” November 28, 1994

“Risk management is an ever-evolving
process that must be continually
assessed from the start to the finish
of every mission; it does not end when
the mission brief sheet and risk
assessment worksheet are signed,” he
wrote.
“Connecticut Post,” July 10, 2003

Leith’s Briefsheet
Distinctions of Change
LEITH’S BRIEFSHEETS Each Leith’s
Briefsheet focuses on a concept or tool
that change agents and innovation
activists may find useful.
...In this Leith’s Brief Sheet you will
find.... we hope the Leith’s Brief
Sheet enriches your understanding of
this complex subject.
www.martinleith.com/docs_pdf/change_
briefsheet.pdf

Ser No. 78250129
9
Wedding Information: Brief Sheet
[followed by bullets on “Costs of
renting the Chapel,” “Chapel
statistics” etc.]
www.cc.colorado.edu/religouslife/
WeddingInfo/briefsheet.html

PUBLIC WORKS BRIEF SHEET
[followed by information under the
topics Summary, Background, Proposal]
www.ci.Missoula.mt.us/ftproot/Epackets/
2001-10-22/ordinance%/20changes%/
20brief%20sheet.htm

PROCUREMENT BRIEF SHEET
[followed by a listing of items that
need to be completed, e.g., Contract
Number, Proposed Award to, Names of
Services/Program]
www.msc.navy.mil/instructions/pdf/
m57005.pdf

Mental Health Agency Brief Sheet
[followed by such topic headings, with
bullet information, as Mission,
Structure, Functions and Special
Achievements and Local Needs)

It is clear from these excerpts that “brief sheet” is
a recognized term for an information summary. Although the
etymology of this term is not clear from this record--
perhaps it derives from “briefing paper”--it is clear that
this is an accepted term used to describe papers having
information summaries or points of information. Pamphlets
are, by their very nature, short pieces. When BRIEF SHEETS
is used in connection with either written or online
instructional pamphlets on various subjects, the mark will
immediately convey to consumers that the pamphlets contain
Ser No. 78250129
10
an information summary for or points of information on the
particular subject being addressed in the pamphlets.
Accordingly, we find that it is merely descriptive of
applicant’s identified goods and services.
Decision: The refusal of registration is affirmed.