(1) The Secretary of State may not register as a mark any word, phrase, symbol, device or combination thereof if it:
(a) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter;
(b) Consists of or comprises matter that may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons living or dead, institutions, beliefs or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute;
(c) Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof;
(d) Consists of or comprises the name, signature or portrait of any living individual except with the individual’s written consent;
(e) Consists of or comprises a mark that so resembles a mark registered in this state as to be likely, when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive; or
(f) Consists of a word, phrase, symbol, device or combination thereof that:
(A) When applied to the goods or services of the applicant is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them;
(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.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1)(f) of this section shall prevent the registration of a mark used in this state by the applicant that has become distinctive of the applicant’s goods or services. The Secretary of State may accept as evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as applied to the applicant’s goods or services, proof of continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in this state or elsewhere for the five years next preceding the date of the filing of the application for registration. [1961 c.497 §2; 1965 c.511 §4; 1971 c.318 §3; 1985 c.728 §85; 2005 c.22 §450]
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