WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. performed site visitors cop. Justice Clarence Thomas requested his first questions in additional tha
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. performed site visitors cop. Justice Clarence Thomas requested his first questions in additional than a yr. Justice Sonia Sotomayor disappeared for a couple of moments, apparently having did not unmute her telephone.
On the entire, the Supreme Court docket’s first argument held by phone went easily, with the justices asking brief bursts of fast questions, one after the other, so as of seniority, because the world, additionally for the primary time, listened in.
The argument Monday morning started with the standard chant, “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!,” stated Pamela Talkin, the marshal of the courtroom. However that was nearly the one conventional factor about it.
Chief Justice Roberts requested the primary questions after which known as on his colleagues. When legal professionals gave prolonged solutions, he minimize them off and requested the following justice to ask questions.
The query earlier than the courtroom was whether or not a web-based lodge reservation firm, Reserving.com, might trademark its identify. Generic phrases can’t be trademarked, and all involved agreed that “reserving,” standing alone, is generic. The query for the justices was whether or not the addition of “.com” modified the evaluation.
A number of of the justices advised that the reply was sure. Justice Thomas requested how an web area identify differed from an 800 telephone quantity, a degree picked up by different justices.
“You may have a trademark that’s an deal with,” stated Justice Stephen G. Breyer. “You may have a trademark that could be a telephone quantity. Why can’t you may have a trademark that could be a ‘.com’?”
An official of the Patent and Trademark Workplace rejected Reserving.com’s software, and the Trademark Trial and Attraction Board affirmed that call, saying the proposed trademark was generic. “Related prospects,” the board stated, “would perceive the time period Reserving.com to discuss with a web-based reservation service.”
A federal trial decide disagreed, ruling that the addition of “.com” to a generic time period remodeled it into “a descriptive mark eligible for cover.” A divided three-judge panel of the USA Court docket of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., affirmed that ruling.
Erica L. Ross, a lawyer for the federal government, said that decision meant that Booking.com must lose. “Dot com is simply the online version of ‘company,’” she said.
“What respondent wants,” she said, referring to the company, “is something it couldn’t get in the brick and mortar world.”
Lisa S. Blatt, a lawyer for Booking.com, argued that the Lanham Act, a 1946 law that codified trademark protections, repudiated the 1888 decision.
Chief Justice Roberts seemed sympathetic to that position. “It makes more sense to follow the language Congress chose in the statute,” he told Ms. Ross, “rather than a 130-year-old case.”
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that was only a partial answer, as the 1946 law predated the digital era. “You are seeking,” he told Ms. Blatt, “a degree of monopoly power that no one could have had before the internet age.”
Several justices asked about the possible harm to competition. Ms. Blatt said the concern was misplaced. “The notion that anyone is being crowded out is silly,” she said.
“Seeking a date?” the brief asked. “Try Dating.com. Want to impress with concert tickets? Tickets.com or Concert.com can get them. Hoping for nice weather? Check Weather.com. Looking for the perfect dinner spot? Restaurant.com offers deals. Booking a flight to meet the parents? Flights.com can help.”
The passage went on in this way, listing more than a dozen other examples.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seemed concerned by the list. “How many already registered marks would be subject to cancellation?” she asked Ms. Ross, who did not offer a direct response.
Supreme Court arguments typically last an hour. But Monday’s session went over by about 15 minutes, a consequence of the new format.