Grounds for Reversal: Federal Circuit Finds KAHWA Registrable for Coffee Shops (even though the word means Coffee in Arabic)

"This week though the court released a new decision that complicates the narrative somewhat by reversing a TTAB refusal to register KAHWA for café and coffee shop services, holding that the doctrine of foreign equivalents did not apply because the term has a well-established alternative English meaning. In re Bayou Grande Coffee Roasting Co., No. 2024-1118 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 9, 2025). The decision also imposed rigorous evidentiary requirements for genericness and descriptiveness findings, demanding actual marketplace evidence rather than speculation about what cafés might theoretically sell."

"But, when the company sought federal registration of its name, the examining attorney refused under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, asserting that KAHWA means "coffee" (قهوة) in Arabic. The examiner also added alternative "grounds" based on KAHWA's meaning as a type of Kashmiri green tea. After Bayou Grande appealed, the Board declined to address the Arabic translation issue entirely, instead affirming the refusal based solely on the tea meaning."

Bayou Grande operated coffee shops in the Tampa Bay area under the KAHWA name and sought federal registration. The examining attorney refused registration under the doctrine of foreign equivalents, asserting KAHWA means "coffee" in Arabic and alternatively that it denotes a Kashmiri green tea. The Board affirmed refusal based on the tea meaning, reasoning that cafés serve tea and thus the mark was generic or merely descriptive of café services. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed, finding the Board's genericness and descriptiveness determinations unsupported by substantial evidence and holding the doctrine of foreign equivalents cannot apply when a foreign term has an established alternative English meaning. The court required actual marketplace evidence for genericness or descriptiveness findings.

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