April 30, 2015
Success for O2 in recent UKIPO decision on INDIGO FITNESS
Success for O2 in recent UKIPO decision on INDIGO FITNESS
Claire Jenkins of Stobbs has successfully represented O2 Holdings Limited in their opposition to UK Trade mark Application for INDIGO FITNESS with the decision finding the mark as applied for was confusingly similar to O2's earlier INDIGO2 (figurative) trade mark registration. The goods and services in question were various forms of gym equipment in class 28, retail services connected with the sale of fitness equipment and various business management services in class 35 and exercise fitness and training services in class 41.   The case involved discussions around breadth of specifications, the average consumer and dominant and distinctive elements of marks.  The Hearing Officer found in this case that whilst the earlier right contained broad terms, that these in fact were clear.  He found that the respective marks shared a higher than average degree of visual and aural similarity and an average degree of conceptual similarity. It was argued by the Applicant at the Hearing that the dominant and distinctive element of the Opponent’s INDIGO2 figurative mark was O2 given that O2 has a “significant reputation in the telecommunications market”.  He was of the view that consumers would only see O2 and INDIGO would effectively go unnoticed. The Hearing Officer found that the word INDIGO in the Opponent's earlier mark was not negligible and this element of the mark would not be ignored.  He also found that whilst the levels of attention paid to the goods and services vary within the application, this did not detract from the fact that the overall impression created by the application is INDIGO and therefore a likelihood of confusion existed. This is an excellent result for the client and a well founded decision in our view. ( Full decision here)
Tags
Trademarks /  Tech /  Telecoms

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