Culinary retailer adapts TM after Nestlé complains

An online culinary retailer has reworked its applied-for trademark just one day after food and drink conglomerate Nestlé took issue with it.

Food and drink conglomerate Nestlé opposed the applied-for trademark, ‘WORKNCHEF’ on Wednesday, January 1, at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Nestlé claimed that Illinois-based J Mark Enterprises was using the stylised ‘N’ logo, the “first and dominant element” of Nestlé’s well-known mark ‘Nespresso’, within its own trademark.

Since 2005, Nestlé has used the stylised ‘N’ alone and as part of the ‘Nespresso’ mark, covering its line of coffee machines and capsules and retail store and online retail store services, according to the opposition.

J Mark Enterprises applied for the ‘WORKNCHEF’ trademark in May 2019, covering class 35 for “online retail store services featuring a wide variety of consumer goods”. At the time of application, the trademark was being used on a charcoal rake and a BBQ spice blend.

“Opposer’s stylised ‘N’ logo appears prominently in the centre of applicant’s mark and is the only stylised letter in applicant’s mark. As such, applicant’s mark is highly similar to and evocative of opposer’s marks in appearance and commercial impression,” claimed Nestlé.

The food and drink conglomerate said that, if the trademark were to be registered, it would be likely to cause dilution of the distinctive quality of Nestlé’s marks and Nestlé would be damaged.

Just one day later, J Mark Enterprises submitted a motion to amend its application, removing a stylised ‘N’ from the trademark and replacing it with a sharpening steel, chef knife and a flame (to form the shape of an ‘N’).

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