Why the HOLLYWOOD Wordmark Is Not the Hollywood Sign Landmark

The trademark registrations held by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce protect a stylized word mark — NOT the Hollywood Sign as a physical landmark.

This boundary is established from both sides of the record. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) expressly states that when “Hollywood” is presented as a depiction of the Hollywood Sign, it is ornamental and does not function as a trademark. In response, the applicant repeatedly disclaims any geographic or place-based claim and frames its mark as a symbolic, reputation-based wordmark with meaning apart from the physical location of Hollywood. Taken together, the examiner’s refusals and the applicant’s own statements confirm that the registration does not claim the Hollywood Sign or the landmark itself.

USPTO

“The applied-for mark as used on the specimen would be perceived as merely a decorative or ornamental feature of the packaging for the goods because the wording is displayed in a landscape picture displayed as a depiction of the Hollywood sign.”

Source: Office Action, Serial No. 86929868
Location: Ornamental Refusal (Issue/Mailing Date: June 20, 2016)

Why this matters: This is the Office’s clear rule: when the mark is treated as the Hollywood Sign (a landscape depiction), it fails to function as a trademark. The landmark itself is not registrable.

APPLICANT (Hollywood Chamber of Commerce)

1) Express denial of any geographic/place connection

“The goods in International Class 30 as associated with this Application are not manufactured, packaged, shipped from, sold in or have any other connection with the geographic location named in the mark.”

Source: Applicant Response to Office Action, Serial No. 86929868
Location: ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS – Miscellaneous Statement (Filed Dec. 20, 2016)

2) Reframing consumer perception away from physical location

“The goods themselves are known by consumers to be associated with the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood film industry as opposed to an association with a given geographic location.”

Source: Applicant Response to Office Action, Serial No. 86929868
Location: ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS – Miscellaneous Statement (Filed Dec. 20, 2016)

3) Claim of meaning separate from the place itself

“[T]he ‘Hollywood’ stylized mark sought to be registered here has acquired a meaning apart from the geographic location of ‘Hollywood’ itself.”

Source: Applicant Response to Office Action, Serial No. 86929868
Location: ARGUMENT(S) – Geographically Descriptive (Filed Dec. 20, 2016)

4) Source identification anchored to the organization, not a structure

“Consumers… understand that these products and services originate from and/or are endorsed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce…”

Source: Applicant Response to Office Action, Serial No. 86929868
Location: ARGUMENT(S) – Geographically Descriptive (Filed Dec. 20, 2016)

Conclusion...

- The USPTO rejects landmark depictions as non-trademark use, and the applicant repeatedly disclaims geography and reframes “Hollywood” as a symbolic word mark—together confirming that the registration does not claim the Hollywood Sign or the physical landmark.