United States Fourth Circuit

The term "crab house" is a generic term referring to a class of restaurants that serve crabs, so plaintiff is not entitled to common law trademark protection for the mark "Charleston Crab House."

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/15/2001
• Published 02/15/2001

Judges

• Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge, and MAGILL, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Morris Dawes Cooke, Jr., Barnwell, Whaley, Patterson & Helms, L.L.C., Charleston, SC, for Appellant.  William Fitts Ryan, Jr., Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, L.L.P., Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Wendy Raina Johnson Keefer, B. Craig Killough, Barnwell, Whaley, Patterson & Helms, L.L.C., Charleston, SC, for Appellant.  Steven E. Tiller, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, L.L.P., Baltimore, MD;  W. Jefferson Leath, Jr., Leath, Bouch & Crawford, L.L.P., Charleston, SC, for Appellee.