Georator Corporation v. United States

FIELD, Circuit Judge:

This case presents the question whether for federal income tax purposes fees incurred while resisting a petition to cancel registration of a trademark may be deducted annually as an ordinary business expense or must be treated as a capital expenditure.

In 1964 Wincharger Corporation, a subsidiary of Zenith Corporation, filed a petition in the Patent Office to cancel Georator Corporation’s (Georator) registration of the trademark “NO-BRUSH” on the ground that the trademark had become the common descriptive name for certain types of electric generators and motors. After four…