TTAB Ex Parte Affirmance Rates for 2005

John Welch at the TTABlog has done a painstaking review of the TTAB's decisions for the past year which yielded the following approximate statistics regarding the Board's affirmance rate for ex parte refusals

• Section 2(d) likelihood of confusion ---80% affirmed
• Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness ---86%
• Genericness ---61%
• Section 2(e)(4) surname --- 60%

He also uncovers the longest applied for mark at 182 words which the Board found did not function as a trademark.