April 15 (Reuters) - VF Corp's ( VFC ) boot maker

Timberland cannot receive a federal trademark covering certain

elements of its famous boot design, a U.S. appeals court said on

Monday.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the U.S. Patent

and Trademark Office's decision that features of the boots

including its sole color, eyelets and stitching were not

distinctive enough to identify the boots as Timberland products.

Representatives for Timberland did not immediately respond

to requests for comment on the decision. A spokesperson for the

USPTO declined to comment.

Timberland applied for a federal trademark covering the

features in 2015. The USPTO rejected the application in a

decision that was later upheld by an office tribunal and a

Virginia federal court.

The 4th Circuit agreed with the office on Monday and said

Timberland failed to show that the design features encourage

customers to buy its boots "because, to the public, those

features make the boot a Timberland product."

The appeals court noted that Timberland's trademark

application did not include "more conspicuous" aspects of its

boots that may identify them more clearly as Timberland

products, including its tree logo, lug soles and best-selling

"wheat-yellow" color.

"Some consumers might recognize the whole boot, unclaimed

features and all, as a Timberland," U.S. Circuit Judge Marvin

Quattlebaum wrote for a three-judge panel. "But TBL did not

undertake to register the entire boot."

The case is TBL Licensing LLC v. Vidal, 4th U.S. Circuit

Court of Appeals, No. 23-1150.

For Timberland: Elizabeth Ferrill of Finnegan Henderson

Farabow Garrett & Dunner

For the USPTO: Christina Hieber of the USPTO

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)