Companhia Antarctica Paulista v. Coe

This is an action brought under Section 4915, R.S.1 seeking registration of the word “Antarctica” as a trade-mark. The court below held that since the term was the name of a continent it came within the proviso2 of Section 5 of the Trade-Mark Act, 15 U.S.C. § 85, making merely geographical terms not entitled to registration.

Appellant insists that the use of “Antarctica” as applied to its product is not “merely geographical” within the terms of the proviso. It argues that the public knows that Antarctica is an uninhabited country and therefore cannot be the origin of the product, — since the…