Patent Attorney and Founder
So would Strata run into trouble with the existing Kina Strada trademark?
Short answer: yes, and for a few different reasons.
Both marks sit in Class 25 for clothing. That alone gets the USPTO’s attention. But the real issues run deeper.
Strata is being used as a sports equipment and clothing brand. Kina Strada, on the other hand, is a New York–based women’s fashion brand. Different vibes, sure. But trademarks don’t care much about vibes. They care about how things look, sound, and mean.
And this is where it gets interesting.
“Kina Strada” sounds like a person’s name. Or honestly, like a drink you might order at a café. But the key part is “Strada.” That word isn’t random.
Strada means “street” in Italian.
That matters. A lot.
During examination, the USPTO applies something called the doctrine of foreign equivalence. In plain English, they translate foreign words into English and then judge them based on the English meaning.
So now we’re not talking about Strata as some abstract brand name. We’re talking about “street.”
Street… for clothing.
You can probably see where this is going.
That pushes the mark straight into descriptive territory. Streetwear. Street apparel. Clothing you wear on the street. Once a mark describes the goods, even indirectly, the USPTO usually says no.
And I can almost guarantee this word, or close versions of it, are already on the register for apparel. When that happens, it’s another dead end.
No trademark. No registration.
And yes, it feels strange. You can get blocked because a word is descriptive in a language you don’t even speak. But that’s how the system works.
This is one of those traps that catches people off guard.
It also catches attorneys who don’t live and breathe trademarks.
There are really two big issues people miss here:
- Foreign translation
If a word translates into something descriptive, the USPTO treats it as descriptive. - Surname refusal
Strata can also be seen as a last name. If it’s not rare, the USPTO may say it’s “primarily merely a surname.” That’s another refusal unless you can prove strong brand recognition.
Likelihood of confusion with Kina Strada? Maybe. That’s not the strongest argument here.
The stronger problems are:
- Descriptiveness through translation
- Possible surname refusal
Either one can sink the application.
That’s why names that feel clever or stylish can still fail fast at the USPTO. Not because they’re bad brands. But because the law sees them differently than people do.
And that’s usually the moment when applicants say,
“Oh. I didn’t realize that.”