Also known as: suggestively · suggestiveness · suggestive identification · unduly suggestive
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
2 senses
An identification procedure that directs a witness toward a particular suspect through unnecessary suggestion. The procedure violates due process when it creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification under the totality of the circumstances.
An identification procedure that directs a witness toward a particular suspect through unnecessary suggestion. The procedure violates due process when it creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification under the totality of the circumstances.
A mark that suggests but does not directly describe a product's qualities or characteristics. Such marks are inherently distinctive and eligible for registration without proof of secondary meaning.
A mark that suggests but does not directly describe a product's qualities or characteristics. Such marks are inherently distinctive and eligible for registration without proof of secondary meaning.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Detectives showed a witness a single company photograph of Stella Shapiro two days after a server breach. The witness identified Shapiro from the photo. The procedure was suggestive, yet the short time interval and the witness's certainty supported reliability under the totality of the circumstances.
Two days after a theft, an officer viewed one photograph of Scott Summers. The officer identified Summers. The display was suggestive, but the identification remained admissible because reliability was established by the brief interval and the officer's certainty.
Detectives showed a witness a single photograph of Stella Shapiro two days after a server breach. The witness identified Shapiro from the photo. The procedure was suggestive, but no Sixth Amendment violation occurred because photo identifications are not critical stages requiring counsel.
Police conducted a hospital showup for an injured victim unable to travel. The victim identified the suspect on the spot. The suggestive procedure was upheld due to exigent circumstances and overall reliability under the totality of the circumstances.
3 common questions
A suggestive procedure violates due process only when it creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification under the totality of the circumstances. Reliability remains the key inquiry even if the procedure was unnecessarily suggestive.
Supporting sources
The right to counsel does not attach to photo identifications because they are not critical stages. The accused has no constitutional right to have counsel present during a photographic array.
Supporting sources
A showup may be upheld when exigent circumstances such as the victim's medical condition make the procedure necessary and the identification is reliable under the totality of the circumstances.
Supporting sources
Sophia Singh sought to register the mark Suntost for orange marmalade. The mark suggested the product's sunny origin without describing it directly. The mark qualified as suggestive and was registrable without secondary meaning evidence.
Qualitex Company has used a special shade of green-gold color on the press pads it makes and sells to dry cleaning firms for use on dry cleaning presses since the 1950s. Jacobson Products Company, a rival firm, began selling its own press pads colored in a similar green-gold shade to dry cleaning firms in 1989. In 1991 Qualitex registered the special green-gold color on press pads with the Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark under Registration No. 1,633,711 dated February 5, 1991. Qualitex subsequently added a trademark infringement count to an unfair competition claim under the Lanham Act in a lawsuit it had already filed against Jacobson. The District Court ruled in Qualitex's favor in the action. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit set aside the judgment in Qualitex's favor on the trademark infringement claim. Courts of Appeals had differed on whether color alone could qualify as a trademark, with some circuits imposing an absolute prohibition and others allowing registration in particular circumstances. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1994 to address the division among the circuits.
View caseSterling Manufacturing sought trademark protection for a distinctive pink hue on insulation. The color suggested the product's insulating quality without describing it. The color mark was treated as suggestive and eligible for protection.
Qualitex Company has used a special shade of green-gold color on the press pads it makes and sells to dry cleaning firms for use on dry cleaning presses since the 1950s. Jacobson Products Company, a rival firm, began selling its own press pads colored in a similar green-gold shade to dry cleaning firms in 1989. In 1991 Qualitex registered the special green-gold color on press pads with the Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark under Registration No. 1,633,711 dated February 5, 1991. Qualitex subsequently added a trademark infringement count to an unfair competition claim under the Lanham Act in a lawsuit it had already filed against Jacobson. The District Court ruled in Qualitex's favor in the action. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit set aside the judgment in Qualitex's favor on the trademark infringement claim. Courts of Appeals had differed on whether color alone could qualify as a trademark, with some circuits imposing an absolute prohibition and others allowing registration in particular circumstances. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1994 to address the division among the circuits.
View case1 common questions
A suggestive mark requires imagination to connect the mark with the product, while a descriptive mark directly conveys a quality or characteristic. Suggestive marks are registrable without secondary meaning.
Supporting sources
…on the History of the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789" does not purport to be authoritative and was intended to be no more than suggestive. The weight to be given to his discovery has never been discussed at this bar. Nor does the opinion indicate the ground disclosed by the research. In his dissenting opinion in the Taxicab…