Also known as: suggestively · suggestiveness · suggestive identification · unduly suggestive
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see 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.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
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.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
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.
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.
Sterling 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.
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…