Reebok loses TM opposition at UKIPO
Sportswear maker Reebok has lost its bid to stop an exercise equipment company from registering a trademark.
In a decision published on Wednesday, July 31, the UK Intellectual Property Office ( IPO) found there would be no consumer confusion between Reebok’s trademark for its name and a trademark applied-for by Reehut.
Reehut sought to register its name under class 28 for goods including gym apparatus, jump ropes, knee pads for athletic use and exercise balls.
This was opposed by Reebok, which said it would infringe on its trademark for its name.
Reebok’s trademark, among other classes, is also registered in class 28 for goods such as gymnastic and sporting products.
Reebok said the goods covered by its own trademark and the applied-for mark are identical or similar, and that Reehut would “ride on its coat tails and benefit from the attraction, reputation and prestige” of its earlier trademark.
In its decision, the IPO said the earlier trademark and applied-for mark visually coincide in the first three letters and are of identical length but differ in their final three letters. It said they are visually and aurally similar to a low degree.
It said that while some of the goods covered by the earlier trademark an applied-for mark are identical, the respective endings of the marks are clearly different.
“Such a difference will not go unnoticed and so it is difficult to see how the later trademark will be mistaken for the earlier one. There is no likelihood of confusion,” the IPO said.
Additionally, it found it to be unlikely that a consumer would make a link between the earlier mark and the applied-for mark, but even if a link was made, “it would be so fleeting that it would have no consequence”.
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