CurtCo Freedom Group, L.L.C.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

May 31, 2002

No. 75698423 (T.T.A.B. May. 31, 2002)

5/31/02

Paper No. 14
ejs

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________

In re CurtCo Freedom Group, L.L.C.
________

Serial No. 75/698,423
_______

Steven J. Nataupsky and Tirzah Abé Lowe of Knobbe, Martens,
Olson & Bear, LLP for CurtCo Freedom Group, L.L.C.

Gwen P. Stokols, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office
107 (Thomas Lamone, Managing Attorney).
_______

Before Seeherman, Hohein and Wendel, Administrative
Trademark Judges.

Opinion by Seeherman, Administrative Trademark Judge:

CurtCo Freedom Group, L.L.C. has appealed from the
final refusal of the Trademark Examining Attorney to
register ECRM as a trademark for “magazines in the field of
business.”1 Registration has been refused pursuant to
Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(e)(1),

1 Application Serial No. 75/698,423, filed March 5, 1999, and
asserting a bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce.
THIS DECISION IS NOT CITABLE
AS PRECEDENT OF THE TTAB
Ser No. 75/698,423
2
on the ground that applicant’s mark is merely descriptive
of the identified goods.
Applicant and the Examining Attorney have filed
briefs.2 An oral hearing was not requested.
We affirm the refusal.
The Examining Attorney contends that ECRM is a
recognized acronym for “electronic customer relationship
management,” and that this term describes the subject
matter of applicant’s magazines. In support of this
position the Examining Attorney points to applicant’s
acknowledgement that “‘electronic customer relationship
management’ can be found in the industry” and that
“applicant’s magazines may discuss aspects of electronic
customer relationship management.” Response filed
October 23, 2000.3 The Examining Attorney has also made of
record a listing from “Acronym Finder” showing that ECRM is
the acronym for “electronic customer relationship

2 Applicant requested several extensions of time to file a reply
brief, and extensions were granted until February 19, 2002. No
reply brief was filed.
3 Applicant was asked to answer the following questions pursuant
to Trademark Rule 2.61(b): 1) Is ECRM an abbreviation for
“electronic customer relationship management”? If not, what
words do they represent? 2) Does the term “electronic customer
relationship management” have any significance in the relevant
trade or as applied to the goods or services, any geographical
significance or any meaning in a foreign language? 3) Will or do
all or any part of the contents of the magazine relate to
“electronic customer relationship management”?

Ser No. 75/698,423
3
management”, and excerpts from the NEXIS database and a
GOOGLE search summary. The NEXIS excerpts are for the most
part from wire service reports, and therefore they are not
evidence of public exposure to them. What they do show is
that the authors (and it is presumed that there are several
authors because the excerpts come from different wire
services) understand ECRM or eCRM 0to mean “electronic
customer relationship management.”4 The GOOGLE search
summary is also of limited probative value because it
simply lists a few phrases from the websites it retrieved,
but these listings do show that “electronic customer
relationship management” is known by the acronym “eCRM.”5
The Examining Attorney has also made of record
excerpts from several publications which do show public
exposure to ECRM as a term for electronic customer
relationship management, as follows:
Electronic Customer Relationship
Management, or ECRM, is something that
I see as a huge threat to the type of

4 See, for example, “Quintus Corporation, (Nasdaq: QNTSE), a
provider of industry-leading contact center solutions for
electronic customer relationship management (eCRM)....” “Business
Wire,” January 31, 2001; “...a leading e-mail marketing and
electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) company.” “PR
Newswire,” January 8, 2001.
5 See, for example, “ELECTRONIC CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIO MANAGEMENT
(heading) Dear Colleagues: Electronic Customer Relationship
Management (eCRM) is a comprehensive approach that provides
seamless integration of every area of business....”
www.informationforecast.com/electronic.html.
Ser No. 75/698,423
4
economy we’ve built in Maine, and there
are some big challenges.
“Portland Press Herald,” December 30,
2000

It’s the old 80-20 rule: 20% of your
customers deliver 80% of your profits.
But despite ongoing advances in the
functionality of electronic customer
relationship management (eCRM) systems,
many organizations continue to struggle
with how to effectively target and
coddle their top clients.
“Computerworld,” December 11, 2000

Many companies are struggling with
customer service representative
shortages, which for customers means
agonizing hold times on support lines
and e-mail inquiries that never receive
a reply. You can add warm bodies to
your customer service department, but
that’s an expensive answer that may not
resolve the problem as handily or as
cost-effectively as an eCRM (electronic
customer relationship management)
system.
“InfoWorld,” April 3, 2000

A mark is merely descriptive, and therefore prohibited
from registration by Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act,
if it immediately conveys information concerning a quality,
characteristic, function, ingredient, attribute or feature
of a product or service. It does not have to describe
every one of those. It is enough if it describes a single,
significant quality, feature, function, etc. Moreover, the
question of descriptiveness is not decided in a vacuum but
in relation to the goods on which, or the services in
Ser No. 75/698,423
5
connection with which, it is used. In re Venture Lending
Associates, 226 USPQ 285, 286 (TTAB 1985).
We find that applicant’s mark ECRM is merely
descriptive of magazines in the field of business in that
it immediately conveys to the relevant purchasers that the
subject matter of the magazines includes ECRM, or
electronic customer relationship management.
The evidence submitted by the Examining Attorney makes
clear that ECRM is a recognized acronym for electronic
customer relationship management, and that this is a
recognized business term, a term that applicant
acknowledges “can be found in the industry” and a term that
applicant itself has used to describe some of the subject
matter of its magazines. “Applicant’s magazines may
discuss aspects of electronic customer relationship
management.” Response filed October 23, 2000. When
consumers of magazines in the field of business see the
mark ECRM for such magazines, they will immediately
understand that the magazines deal with electronic customer
relationship management.
Applicant contends that CRM can be an acronym for
other terms, including “camera ready material,” “certified
risk manager,” “collateral release mechanism” and “combat
readiness medal.” There are several problems with this
Ser No. 75/698,423
6
argument. First, applicant has not submitted any evidence
to support that CRM is a recognized acronym for these
terms. Second, as noted above, the question of
descriptiveness must be considered in connection with the
identified goods, not in the abstract. As used in
connection with a magazine in the field of business, the
meanings of CRM as “Camera ready material” and “combat
readiness medal” would not be applicable. Third, and most
importantly, the term at issue is ECRM, not CRM. To the
extent that applicant would have us take the various words
that “E” can stand for, (according to applicant, “east,”
“electronics,” “enterprise,” entertainment television,”
“espana” “excellence” and “explorer”)6 and combine them with
its suggested meanings for the acronym CRM, such a position
has no merit whatsoever.
Applicant also argues that the various elements in
“electronic customer relationship management” individually
have a wide variety of meanings. Applicant then goes on to
combine the different meanings and asserts that ECRM could
be viewed as suggesting, inter alia, a publication on the
Web regarding supervising family-owned businesses, an
electronic magazine on fine tuning one’s executive skills,

6 There is no evidence that “E” is a recognized abbreviation for
these words.
Ser No. 75/698,423
7
an interactive guide to handling romantic relationships in
the workplace, or a publication on dealmaking strategies
for Internet companies. The problem with this argument is
that ECRM is a recognized acronym for electronic customer
relationship management, and electronic customer
relationship management is a recognized business term
which, as noted above, applicant has acknowledged is found
in the industry.7 Accordingly, consumers would not, as
applicant argues, have to mentally consider several
possible phrases which are identified by the acronym ECRM.
Rather, because the only meaning for the acronym ECRM shown
by the evidence which is of record is electronic customer
relationship management, customers will immediately view
this acronym as describing the subject matter of magazines
in the field of business.
Applicant has also argued that it is unclear what
“electronic customer relationship management” means,
relying on statements made in the “Computerworld” article
made of record by the Examining Attorney.8 The fact that

7 Applicant was specifically asked whether the term “electronic
customer relationship management” has any significance in the
relevant trade, and answered by saying it can be found in the
industry. Applicant cannot now deny this by taking the position
that customers would not recognize this term.
8 The Examining Attorney submitted excerpts of this article, and
with its appeal brief applicant submitted the article in its
entirety. Normally the record must be complete upon the filing
of the notice of appeal, and material submitted with a brief will
Ser No. 75/698,423
8
panelists were reported in the article as giving their
views as to what the subject of ECRM means to them does not
show that ECRM is not a recognized term or business
subject. It is clear from the article, as well as from the
other evidence of record, that ECRM and electronic customer
relationship management are recognized terms in business.
Finally, applicant argues that “the fact that portions
of the magazine will discuss customer relationship
management does not indicate that the mark ECRM merely
describes business magazines,” and that “having merely a
portion of Applicant’s magazine discuss ‘customer
relationship management’ is not enough to deem Applicant’s
ECRM mark merely descriptive.” Brief, p. 5. Applicant
relies on Rand McNally & Company v. Christmas Club, 242
F.2d 776, 113 USPQ 287 (CCPA 1957), which found that
CHRISTMAS CLUB was not merely descriptive of magazines
which contained advertisements for Christmas Clubs, but
eighty percent of which contained editorials, jokes and
quotations which were not about Christmas Clubs.
We are not persuaded by this argument. Applicant
stated, in response to the Examining Attorney’s request for

not be considered. However, because an excerpt from the article
had previously been submitted, we regard the entire article as
supplementing the record, and we have considered it.

Ser No. 75/698,423
9
information as to whether “all or any part of the contents
of the magazine relate to ‘electronic customer relationship
management’” that “Applicant’s magazines may discuss
aspects of electronic customer relationship management.”
Applicant’s application is based on an asserted intention
to use the mark, and therefore the Examining Attorney did
not have specimens of the magazine to ascertain the subject
matter. Accordingly, the Examining Attorney asked
applicant whether all or part of the contents related to
electronic customer relationship management. If
applicant’s magazine was not intended to focus on this
subject matter, it was incumbent upon applicant to advise
the Examining Attorney to that effect (and thereby perhaps
encounter a refusal on the ground of deceptive
misdescriptiveness). However, applicant stated that its
magazines may discuss aspects of electronic customer
relationship management. Applicant may not now avoid this
admission by suggesting that ECRM will be a minor portion
of the magazine. Moreover, we note that even though
applicant relies on the CHRISTMAS CLUB case, applicant does
not specifically state that electronic consumer
relationship management will be a small portion of its
magazines.
Decision: The refusal of registration is affirmed.