Guess fails to stop registration of ‘Hater’ TM in Singapore
Clothing brand Guess has failed to halt the registration of a trademark featuring the word ‘Hater’ inside a triangle in Singapore.
In a decision published today, February 27, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) rejected Guess’s argument that the applied-for trademark is too similar to its own trademarks and would cause confusion.
Guess’s trademarks, both of which cover class 25 for clothing, feature a question mark within a triangle, with one of the marks also featuring “Guess” inside the shape. They have been used in Singapore since 1991.
Individual Jen Chi applied for the ‘Hater’ trademark, covering clothing in class 25, in April 2015. The trademark is used on products that are sold online at www.hatersnapback.com, as well as selected shops in Singapore shopping malls.
Sandy Widjaja, principal assistant registrar at IPOS, found that the ‘Haters’ mark was “visually, aurally and conceptually more dissimilar than similar” to Guess’s mark which features the word “Guess”. Widjaja also found that the applied-for mark was dissimilar to Guess’s question mark trademark.
Guess also claimed that Chi had sought to indicate a connection between the companies’ goods.
Under Singapore law, one of the elements that must be satisfied to support this objection is that “the whole or essential part of the trademark must be identical or similar to an earlier mark”.
This argument failed, as IPOS found that Guess’s question trademark is not well known in Singapore and it had already concluded that the trademarks were not similar.
Guess’s claim of passing off was also rejected by the office.
“Taking into account the extent of dissimilarity in the marks, I am of the view that, on a balance of probabilities, there is no likelihood of misrepresentation that the applicant and the opponent are one and the same or that they are economically linked,” said Widjaja.
However, the registrar did hold that the ‘Guess’ mark itself is well known in Singapore.
IPOS ordered that the ‘Haters’ mark would proceed to registration and that Chi was entitled to costs from Guess.
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