Gap takes issue with ‘Gap Band’ TM

Retailer Gap has opposed a trademark filing by one of the founding members of The Gap Band, an R&B and funk group.

Gap filed the notice of opposition at the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) on January 23 against the trademark ‘Gap Band’.

Ronnie J Wilson, a founding member of The Gap Band, filed the trademark in July 2015 for classes 25 (clothing) and 41 (entertainment services). The trademark was published in July 2016.

Gap opposed the mark, stating that it was confusingly similar to Gap’s trademarks, which include ‘Gap Body’, ‘Baby Gap’, and ‘Gap’.

“The filing date of applicant’s application is decades after the acquisition of rights in the Gap marks by opposer or its predecessors in interest,” said the filing.

It added that Wilson’s trademark is “confusingly similar in sight, sound, and commercial impressions” and that it incorporates the ‘Gap’ mark in its entirety.

Gap claimed that the TTAB and a federal district court have determined that its marks are famous for clothing and retail store goods and services.

In Gap v Gap Adventures (2011), a court identified Gap as “one of the most famous and recognisable brands in the US” and that Gap marks are “famous and widely recognised by the general consuming public” for purposes of dilution, according to the retailer.

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