                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

REGISTRABILITY (§ 59.1-92.3)

A mark by which the goods or services of any applicant for registration may be
distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be registered if it
consists of or comprises:

1. Any immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter;

2. Any matter which may falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or
dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or
disrepute;

3. The flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any
state or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof;

4. The name, signature or portrait identifying a particular living individual,
except by the individual&#8217;s written consent;

5. A mark which (i) when used on or in connection with the goods or services of
the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; (ii)
when used on or in connection with the goods or services of the applicant, is
primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or
(iii) is primarily merely a surname; however, nothing in this subdivision shall
prevent the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become
distinctive in this Commonwealth of the applicant&#8217;s goods or services. The
Commission may accept as prima facie evidence that the mark has become
distinctive, as used on or in connection with the applicant&#8217;s goods or
services, proof of continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in this
Commonwealth for the five years before the date of the application for
registration; or

6. A mark which so resembles a mark registered in this Commonwealth or a
trademark, service mark or trade name previously used in this Commonwealth by
another and not abandoned, as to be likely, when used on or in connection with
the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake, or to
deceive.

HISTORY: 1998, c. 819.