JTI fails to halt vaping trademark at UKIPO
The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has rejected Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) attempts to stop the registration of a trademark applied-for by a New Zealand-based vaping store.
New Zealand-based VEC (wich does business as Vapo) had applied to register ‘Vapo’ as a trademark covering electronic cigarettes, cigarettes and tobacco products in class 34 in February 2019.
Soon after publication of the trademark, JTI opposed the trademark, claiming that there was a likelihood of confusion with two of its ‘Vapods’ trademarks. Both of JTI’s trademarks cover class 34 goods, such as tobacco and cigarettes.
However, in May, the IPO rejected JTI’s arguments and allowed VEC’s mark to proceed to registration.
After finding that the goods covered by the marks vary from identical to similar to a medium degree, A Cooper, on behalf of the IPO, went on to compare the trademarks. Cooper found that they were visually and conceptually similar to a medium degree, and aurally similar to a slightly higher than medium degree.
“The marks are invented words. However, a significant proportion of average consumers will connect the letters ‘V-A-P’ in both marks to vaping. The marks are, therefore, conceptually similar to this extent,” added the IPO.
Cooper then said that there wasn’t a likelihood of direct confusion between the trademarks, stating that “I consider that the presence of the letters ‘D-S’ at the end of the earlier marks will be sufficient to enable the consumer to differentiate between them”.
On finding no likelihood of indirect confusion, Cooper noted: “The common letters ‘V-A-P’, are descriptive of the goods for which the marks are applied for. The consumer would have no reason to believe that only one undertaking would use these letters in relation to the type of goods offered by the marks.”
The IPO concluded that JTI’s opposition was unsuccessful in its entirety and ordered the tobacco company to pay VEC £500 ($619).
Ben Pryor, director of Vapo, said: “We were surprised that JTI opposed this mark. We now look forward to introducing our market-leading technology to the UK.”
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