Trade mark decision

BL Number

O/376/02

Decision date

10 September 2002

Hearing officer

Mr David Kitchin QC

Mark

CLIMATE MASTER LTD

Classes

11

Applicants/Appellants

Climatemaster Inc

Opponents/Respondents

Climate Master Inc

Appeal to the Appointed Person in Opposition Proceedings

Result

Appeal dismissed

Points Of Interest

• "There is no obligation upon the Registrar to point out to a party deficiencies in its evidence."

Summary

At first instance the Hearing Officer had found the opponents successful in their opposition under Section 5(2)(b), even taking the honest concurrent use into account as a relevant factor (see BL O/379/01).

At a preliminary hearing the Appointed Person had refused the appellants request to amend the grounds and adduce further evidence (see BL O/215/02).

The Appointed Person concluded (i) that the Hearing Officer had been right to consider a notional use across the breadth of the specifications; (ii) had been right to conclude that the evidence did not displace his prima facie finding of a likelihood of confusion and (iii) was not obliged to point out deficiencies in the evidence in any preliminary view: (in any case, said the Appointed Person, the opponents had signalled those deficiencies and the applicants had therefore had an opportunity to address them prior to the main hearing).

The appeal was therefore dismissed.

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