Trade mark decision

BL Number

O/553/01

Decision date

12 December 2001

Hearing officer

Mr D Landau

Mark

BYTESIZE

Classes

18, 25, 41

Applicants

Viacom International Inc

Opponents

The British Broadcasting Corporation

Opposition

Section 5(4)(a)

Result

Section 5(4)(a) - Opposition partially successful

Points Of Interest

• 1. Claim to increased protection by reason of potential of merchandising use
• 2. Costs to applicants in view of the breadth of the opponents’ attack

Summary

On a preliminary point, the Hearing Officer decided, not without ‘some misgivings’ to take into account some exhibits which had not been copied to the other side.

In the substantive matter, the opponent claimed to have established a goodwill in the mark BITESIZE. After a careful examination of this claim, however, the Hearing Officer considered any possible damage was limited to a common field of activity, ie some, only, of the services in the Class 41 specifications.

He ordered that the Class 41 specification be reduced accordingly. Since this was only a very limited success, given the breadth of the opponents’ attack, the Hearing Officer made an award of costs to the applicants.

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