Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Your problem isn't likely to be the prior registration for a toy or doll, but the fact that "tater" is a common word for "potato" and thus might be considered descriptive (assuming your product is a salad with potatoes in it). I would guess that the Trademark Office would reject "tater salad" as descriptive of "potato salad." A Supplemental Registration might be feasible, but even that could be rejected if the mark is considered generic.

Trademarks are issued by product category, so it would be possible to register "Purple Passion" as a trademark for a paint color, a Zinfandel, and a lipstick without conflict. There are about 50 categories recognized. As the previous answer suggests, your biggest problem is that the term might be considered generic for a food product consisting basically of potato salad. That's why someone was able to register it under the toys and dolls category, and you could register it as a trademark for paint, wine or cosmetics, but you might not be able to register it for a food product.