USPS Blocks ‘Certified Email’ Trademark

The U.S. Postal Service has won a decision at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office blocking a technology company from registering “Certified Email” as a trademark.

Ruling against a company called RPost, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled Tuesday that the “Email” trademark was confusingly similar to “Certified Mail,” a name the USPS has used for authenticated delivery service since 1955

“The parties’ marks are visually and aurally quite similar,” Judge Jonathan Hudis wrote for a three-judge panel. “The marks also are similar in connotation and commercial impression in that they both suggest a ‘certified’ means of delivering communications.