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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> API (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2003] UKIntelP o18903 (1 July 2003) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2003/o18903.html Cite as: [2003] UKIntelP o18903 |
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For the whole decision click here: o18903
Result
Section 5(1) - Opposition successful.
Section 5(2)(a) - Opposition successful.
Section 5(2)(b) - Opposition successful.
Points Of Interest
Summary
The opposition was based on a number of the opponent’s registrations of their mark API. The goods were identical and the Hearing Officer considered that the marks were identical also. (The average consumer would view the difference between the lower case and upper case versions as insignificant). The opposition under Sections 5(1) and 5(2)(a) succeeded accordingly. However, the applicant claimed the benefit of honest concurrent use under Section 7(1). This did not, however, help them in relation to Section 5(1) and this ground succeeded in any case.
In case he should be wrong in this, the Hearing Officer went on to consider the matter under Section 5(2)(b).
The marks being, if not identical, at least very similar and the goods likewise, he found a likelihood of confusion and this ground succeeded also; the absence of evidence of confusion could not, in the circumstances of the case, be taken as an absence of a likelihood of confusion, he ruled.
