48-502. REGISTRABILITY. (1) In order to be registered, a mark must have some element of distinctiveness, arbitrariness or uniqueness, which may be inherent to the mark or acquired through extended usage and establishment of a reputation.
(2) A mark by which the goods or services of any applicant for registration may be distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be registered if it:
(a) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter; or
(b) Consists of or comprises matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute; or
(c) Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof; or
(d) Consists of or comprises the name, signature or portrait identifying a particular living individual, except by the individual’s written consent;
(e) Consists of a mark which: (i) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or (ii) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant is primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or (iii) is primarily merely a surname, provided however, that nothing in this subsection shall prevent the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become distinctive of the applicant’s goods or services. The secretary of state may accept as evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as used on or in connection with the applicant’s goods or services, proof of continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in this state for the five (5) years before the date on which the claim of distinctiveness is made; or
(f) Consists of or comprises a mark which so resembles a mark registered in this state or a mark or trade name previously used by another and not abandoned, as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive.
History:
[48-502, added 1996, ch. 404, sec. 2, p. 1338.]