## Facts

- The United States Department of the Interior (Department) filed an application to register a service mark for services of the National Park Service (NPS).
- The proposed mark was an arrowhead-shaped design containing the words “NATIONAL PARK SERVICE” and pictorial elements including a mountain, a tree, and a bison.
- The Examining Attorney refused registration on two statutory grounds:
  - the United States government was not a “juristic person” and therefore not a proper applicant under the Lanham Act; and
  - the matter sought to be registered consisted of an “insignia of the United States,” which the Lanham Act excludes from registration.
- The Commissioner of Patents affirmed the refusal at the examining level.
- The Department appealed the refusal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

## Issues

1. Whether the Department, as an agency of the United States, could be an applicant for service-mark registration under the Lanham Act.
2. Whether the NPS arrowhead design with the “NATIONAL PARK SERVICE” wording constituted an “insignia of the United States” (or a simulation of such insignia) that is barred from registration under Lanham Act § 2(b).

## Decision

- The TTAB sustained the refusal to register.
- The TTAB treated the Department as capable of filing an application under the Lanham Act and did not deny registration solely because the applicant was a federal agency.
- The TTAB nevertheless affirmed refusal because the arrowhead design functioned as an official emblem of a federal agency and therefore fell within the Lanham Act § 2(b) exclusion for the “flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States,” making it unregistrable even if it also served to identify services.

## Legal Principles

- A federal agency may file an application for registration under the Lanham Act; applicant status does not turn on whether the applicant is a private entity.
- Lanham Act § 2(b) imposes an absolute bar to registration of the “flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States” and simulations of them.
- “Other insignia of the United States” includes official emblems used by federal agencies to signify governmental authority or identity, not only national flags or seals.
- Because § 2(b) is a statutory exclusion, the USPTO must refuse registration when the applied-for matter is an official U.S. insignia, without regard to acquired distinctiveness or service-mark function.

## Conclusion

The TTAB upheld refusal of the Department of the Interior’s application to register the National Park Service arrowhead design: while the Department could apply for registration, the mark was the official emblem of a federal agency and therefore an “insignia of the United States” barred from registration under Lanham Act § 2(b).


In re United States Department of the Interior, 142 U.S.P.Q. 506 (1964)