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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions


You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> CLOSET CLOTHING (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2004] UKIntelP o17504 (15 June 2004)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2004/o17504.html
Cite as: [2004] UKIntelP o17504

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CLOSET CLOTHING (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2004] UKIntelP o17504 (15 June 2004)

For the whole decision click here: o17504

Trade mark decision

BL Number
O/175/04
Decision date
15 June 2004
Hearing officer
Mr D Landau
Mark
CLOSET CLOTHING
Classes
16, 25
Applicant
Closet Clothing Co Ltd
Opponent
Lippincott AG
Opposition
Section 5(2)(b)

Result

Section 5(2)(b) - Opposition failed.

Points Of Interest

Summary

The opposition, which was directed at the Class 25 specification only, was based on a registration of the mark CLOSED in Class 25.

The respective goods being identical, the Hearing Officer proceeded at once to a comparison of the marks.

The marks to be compared, he decided, were CLOSED v CLOSET, since the opponents could not be in any better a position in relation to the second mark.

Despite their common etymological root, the marks were conceptually different, he found. Phonetically they were different also. Given the importance of brands in the clothing trade and the consequent care exercised by customers in making their purchases the Hearing Officer, in the result, found the marks to be not similar. This effectively decided the matter under Section 5(2)(b), the inherently distinctive nature of the opponents’ mark notwithstanding.



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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2004/o17504.html