"Yellow Cab" May Be Protected By Trademark Law

Case: Yellow Cab Co. of Sacramento v. Yellow Cab of Elk Grove, Inc., Case No. 03-16218 (9th Cir. August 9, 2005).

One-Sentence Summary: There are issues of material fact as to whether the mark "Yellow Cab" is generic and, if descriptive, whether the mark has acquired a secondary meaning in the Sacramento area.

Ninth Circuit Findings:

• Plaintiff Yellow Cab of Sacramento bore burden of proving that "Yellow Cab" mark was not generic because it was not federally registered.
• Nonetheless, district court erred in granting defendant summary judgment because there were genuine issues of fact regarding whether the term was generic. For example, a person asking for a yellow cab company would be referred to a business operating under the name "Yellow Cab" rather than "Checker Cab" or "City Cab."
• Furthermore, plaintiff's direct evidence of customer confusion and advertising data precluded summary judgment against it on the grounds that the mark "Yellow Cab" lacked a secondary meaning.