Whole Foods is known for selling natural, organic products. The store also claims to be “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” and filed a trademark application on June 27, 2016, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) asking to trademark the phrase “World’s Healthiest Grocery Store.” However, the request was denied by the Trademark Office.
The USPTO denied this trademark request, in part, because it is a “laudatory” claim or is based on exaggerated praise that cannot be proven or has not been proved true. According to the Trademark Office, “Registration is refused because the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s services. A mark is merely descriptive if it describes an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose or use of an applicant’s good and/or services.”
The USPTO does not typically grant superlative trademarks that claim something is the best or the greatest in a given area. However, the Trademark Office does allow applicants to argue that a mark is a distinguishing mark by showing the mark is associated with the company by consumers. Although these arguments can be made, they are often times unsuccessful.
Papa Johns, the pizza franchise, went through this same obstacle in 2000. Papa Johns requested to trademark the phrase “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” and the USPTO initially struck this down because Papa Johns could not prove they did in fact have better ingredients and better pizza than its competitors.
Given the fact Whole Foods does not have a significant presence internationally, the designation of the word “world” will prove difficult for the company to validate. Currently the store’s main presence is in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. This is far from the international reach they are trying to obtain with this trademark.
While Whole Foods has been trying to rebrand themselves and expand globally, their efforts are proving to be less lucrative than executives thought. This is due, in part, to the fact that other chain retailers have expanded their organic markets and offer more affordable options.
Whole Foods has until January 16, 2017, to update the application and refile it with the USPTO for consideration.