2006 Code of Virginia § 59.1-92.3 - Registrability

59.1-92.3. Registrability.

A mark by which the goods or services of any applicant for registration maybe distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be registeredif it consists of or comprises:

1. Any immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter;

2. Any matter which may falsely suggest a connection with persons, living ordead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contemptor disrepute;

3. The flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of anystate or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof;

4. The name, signature or portrait identifying a particular livingindividual, except by the individual's written consent;

5. A mark which (i) when used on or in connection with the goods or servicesof the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive ofthem; (ii) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of theapplicant, is primarily geographically descriptive or deceptivelymisdescriptive of them; or (iii) is primarily merely a surname; however,nothing in this subdivision shall prevent the registration of a mark used bythe applicant which has become distinctive in this Commonwealth of theapplicant's goods or services. The Commission may accept as prima facieevidence that the mark has become distinctive, as used on or in connectionwith the applicant's goods or services, proof of continuous use thereof as amark by the applicant in this Commonwealth for the five years before the dateof the application for registration; or

6. A mark which so resembles a mark registered in this Commonwealth or atrademark, service mark or trade name previously used in this Commonwealth byanother and not abandoned, as to be likely, when used on or in connectionwith the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake,or to deceive.

(1998, c. 819.)