---
title: O.C.G.A. § 10-1-441. Ineligibility of trademark or service mark for registration.
collection: code
id: 10-1-441
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 10-1-441 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-1-441
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-1-441.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-1-441/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t10-(v8)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=1992b47e_0#page=375
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COMMERCE AND TRADE / SELLING AND OTHER TRADE PRACTICES / TRADEMARKS, SERVICE MARKS, AND TRADE NAMES / REGISTRATION AND USE OF TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 10-1-441. Ineligibility of trademark or service mark for registration.

A trademark or service mark shall be entitled to registration unless it:

(1) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or

(2) Consists of or comprises matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols or bring them into contempt or disrepute; or

(3) Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States or of any state, county, or municipality or of any foreign nation or any simulation thereof, except that a county, municipality, or board of education shall be entitled to have registered its own service mark for use by that county, municipality, or board of education; or

(4) Consists of or comprises the name, signature, or portrait of any living individual, except with his or her written consent; or

(5) Consists of a mark which:

(A) When applied to the goods or services of the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or

(B) When applied to the goods or services of the applicant, is primarily geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them; or

(C) Is primarily merely a surname; or

(6) Consists of or comprises a trademark or service mark which so resembles a trademark or service mark registered in this state or a trademark or service mark or trade name previously used in this state by another and not abandoned as to be likely, when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive; or

(7) Consists of or comprises a trademark or service mark which so resembles a trademark or service mark registered in the United States Patent Office by another and not abandoned as to be likely, when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive;

provided, however, that, should the applicant prove that the applicant is the owner of a concurrent registration in the United States Patent Office of a trademark or service mark covering an area including this state, the applicant may register such trademark or service mark under this part.

## History

Ga. L. 1893, p. 134, § 3; Civil Code 1895, § 1738; Civil Code 1910, § 1990; Code 1933, § 106-102; Ga. L. 1949, p. 949, § 1; Ga. L. 1952, p. 134, § 7; Ga. L. 1963, p. 463, § 2; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1458, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 462, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 10.

## Law Reviews

For article, “A Patent and Trademark Primer,” see 15 Ga. St. B. J. 58 (1978).