Fed. Cir. Invalidates FUSION Energy Drink Trademark
Written October 14, 2019
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on October 10, 2019, upheld a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) ruling which canceled Brazilian beverage company Cervejaria Petropolis SA’s FUSION trademark at the request of Ambev SA. Cervejaria Petropolis SA v. Ambev SA, Fed. Cir., No. 2019-1132, 10/10/19.
The mark was granted to Cervejaria Petropolis for “non-alcoholic beverage ingredients, namely, effervescent powder to be dissolved in liquid to produce an energy drink and hypertonic drink.” Ambev, a Brazillian brewing company, claimed that the FUSION mark had been abandoned, and the TTAB agreed.
The Federal Circuit found that Cervejaria Petropolis didn’t use the FUSION mark from Dec. 31, 2011, to July 15, 2015, and found Cervejaria Petropolis’s uncorroborated statement it used the mark with a pre-mixed energy drink beginning in October 2014 insufficient to rebut the presumption it abandoned the mark.
The mark was granted to Cervejaria Petropolis for “non-alcoholic beverage ingredients, namely, effervescent powder to be dissolved in liquid to produce an energy drink and hypertonic drink.” Ambev, a Brazillian brewing company, claimed that the FUSION mark had been abandoned, and the TTAB agreed.
The Federal Circuit found that Cervejaria Petropolis didn’t use the FUSION mark from Dec. 31, 2011, to July 15, 2015, and found Cervejaria Petropolis’s uncorroborated statement it used the mark with a pre-mixed energy drink beginning in October 2014 insufficient to rebut the presumption it abandoned the mark.