Brand Image Protection: Little Caesars has gained consumer recognition for its PIZZA! PIZZA! mark. That mark is registered along with others, including PEPPERONI! PEPPERONI! However, Little Caesars’ application to register DEEP! DEEP! DISH PIZZA was refused for being merely descriptive.
While having to concede that the applied-for mark was descriptive, Little Caesar argued that its double-word marks were part of a “family of marks.” The judges, in their decision, agreed that such a thing there is, but Little Caesar failed to prove it had a family of marks, all with a distinctive common trait, particularly where the double word for this mark – “deep” for deep-dish pizza – is so highly descriptive of deep-dish pizza.
In sum, DEEP! DEEP! DISH PIZZA – with or without the extra topping of exclamation marks and no matter how you slice it – is merely descriptive. It merely signifies “deep,” “deeper,” or “really deep” and nothing more. Consider the words of the Eddie Murphy character, Alex Foley, in “Beverly Hills Cop II: “I’m undercover deep now, this is deep, but I’m goin’ deeper. I don’t want no more money or nothin’, but I’m goin’ deep, deep deep, deep undercover.”