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Bottom line: The Board found that “ePTFE” is descriptive for chemical processing machines, etc. using ePTFE as a material, and misdescriptive of the quality or materials for those not using ePTFE.

The applicant filed a trademark application for “ePTFE” in standard character designating for chemical processing machines, apparatus and their parts; semiconductor manufacturing machines and their parts in Class 7.

The examiner refused the application on the ground as follows:

- The word “ePTFE” is a widely used abbreviation of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, which is a kind of high polymer materials.  In fact, ePTFE is used in the chemical industry for fluid filtration.
- Consumers and traders will perceive that “ePTFE” merely indicates the quality or materials in the common manner when it is used for the chemical processing machines, etc., and will not regard it as a source identifier.  Thus, “ePTFE” is descriptive for chemical processing machines, etc. using ePTFE as a material and misdescriptive of the quality or materials for those not using ePTFE.

The Board observed the applied-for mark and found as follows:

- “ePTFE” is an abbreviation of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and refers to expanded and porous PTFE.
- According to the information on the Internet, ePTFE is a kind of fluorocarbon resin having properties such as flexibility, waterproof breathability, etc.  ePTFE is used as a material in a variety of industrial fields including a medical field, and the word “ePTFE” is commonly used in trade.  Turning to the industry relevant to the designated goods of the subject application, a filtering device with ePTFE filter may be used as a part of chemical processing machines and apparatus, or a cable using ePTFE filter externally may be used as a part of semiconductor manufacturing machines.
- Therefore “ePTFE” is descriptive for the designated goods using expanded and porous PTFE (ePTFE) as a material, and misdescriptive of the quality or materials for those not using ePTFE.

The applicant argued against the opinion of the Board as follows:

- The consumers and traders in the industries of chemical machinery and semiconductor apparatus are not familiar with names of chemical substance.  Teflon is more commonly known to refer to polytetrafluoroethylene.  They do not even understand the meaning of “PTFE” and recognize it as a fancy word.
- It is not common to abbreviate “expanded” to “e”, and the consumers and traders associate “e” with the Internet.
- There is no fact that many traders widely use the word “ePTFE” as the abbreviation of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.
- Even if the applied-for mark is granted for registration, a third party can use the term “expanded polytetrafluoroethylene” or “expanded PTFE” instead of “ePTFE”.

The board made reference to the above arguments as follows:

As found in many references on the Internet, the word “ePTFE” itself is widely used in trade to refer to expanded and porous PTFE, and the material is used for a wide variety of goods including the designated goods or will be used in the future.  Therefore, the applicant’s arguments are not acceptable.

And so the Board affirmed the examiner’s refusal.