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15 July 2019TrademarksSaman Javed

Monster Energy stops ‘bad faith’ TM registration at UKIPO

Monster Energy has been successful in its bid to stop a competitor from registering an illegitimate trademark.

In a decision on Thursday July 11, the UK Intellectual Property Office ( UKIPO) upheld Monster’s opposition against a trademark applied-for by Robot Energy, finding the filing was a “part of a plan” to block Monster from registering the mark in the UK.

Robot Energy had sought to register the word mark ‘Hybrid’, written in lime green font on a black background in class 32 for soft drinks, non-alcoholic drinks and energy drinks.

But, this was opposed by Monster in April 2018. Monster said the stylised bright-green lettering of the applied-for mark would infringe on its earlier trademarks. It said the mark would also cause consumer confusion, as Monster had applied to register the mark ‘Energy Hybrid’ in the US.

In its opposition, Monster alleged Robot Energy had no “genuine intention to use the mark other than to block or disrupt” Monster’s business.

Additionally, it said Robot Energy had sought to register a “range of other trademarks” which had a high degree of similarity to Monster’s earlier trademarks.

This was accepted by the UKIPO, which said Robot Energy’s objective was to block or hinder Monster’s registration or use of the ‘Hybrid’ trademark in the UK.

The UKIPO found Robot Energy had “intentionally imitated” Monster’s US ‘Hybrid Energy’ trademark and was “systematically filing applications” which imitate Monster’s trademarks, after the company failed to provide any alternative explanation for its choice of trademark.

It said that this, coupled with evidence from Monster that Robot Energy does not currently market any energy drinks, “is sufficient to raise a prima facie question as to whether Robot Energy had any intention to use the applied-for mark”.

“Making such an application falls below the standards of commercial behaviour observed by honest traders. It follows that the application was made in bad faith,” it said.

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