Serena Ventures Trademark Registration Denied By Trademark Trial And Appeal Board

Serena Williams’ venture capital firm has hit a dead end in its attempt to trademark its name. Serena Ventures is the venture capital firm of the tennis star. She serves as managing partner while Beth Ferreira serves as general partner. The firm has invested in 16 unicorn companies since its inception, and its portfolio includes health, finance, AI, and consumer sectors, as AFROTECH previously reported. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has denied registration of the Serena Ventures trademark, which was initially applied for in November 2020, according to Law360. The reasoning is that it could be confused with “Serena,” an existing trademark that also invests in real estate and other areas. That trademark is owned by Florida-based VC Management Florida LLC. The TTAB panel, consisting of three judges, said it rejected Williams’ argument that her registered trademark applied only to real estate. The decision stated that “only some of registrant’s services are restricted to the field of real estate; others (including ‘capital investment services’ and ‘financing services’) contain no such restriction,” according to Law360. The panel also said there was insufficient evidence from Williams that consumers would see “Serena Ventures” as clearly connected to the tennis star, which would distinguish it. However, it acknowledged they “take judicial notice, as a commonly known fact not subject to dispute, t…