6th Circuit Upholds Festival Trademark

On August 29, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the Tawas Area Chamber of Commerce’s trademark registration for “Perchville,” the name of a festival held annually in Tawas, Michigan since 1950. AuSable River Trading Post, LLC v. Dovetail Sols., Inc., 6th Cir., No. 18-1368, 8/29/18.

The annual winter festival includes a fishing contest and a “polar bear swim,” in which patrons jump into a hole cut in the frozen lake’s surface. AuSable River Trading Post asked the Chamber in 2015 if it could use the mark. When the company learned it would cost a $750 non-member licensing fee, it began producing Perchville gear without permission before it sued to invalidate the mark after the Chamber won an injunction against the company.

The Sixth Circuit upheld the mark, refuting Trading Post’s argument that the mark was now a generic term.