CLASS 46
Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.
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MONDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2009
Switzerland: FRUCTAID creates risk of confusion with FRUCTA for baby food, but not for fruit juice
The decision shows that likelihood of confusion analyses often depend on the inherent strength or weakness of a trade mark, and such strength can only be ascertained for the goods claimed. A term may be distinctive for some goods, but descriptive for others.
Tags: likelihood of confusion, relative grounds of refusal, Switzerland,
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Switzerland: FRUCTAID creates risk of confusion with FRUCTA for baby food, but not for fruit juice
The different outcome lies in the inherent weakness of the term FRUCT for fruit-related goods. FRUCT indicates that a good contains or is made of fruits. For products that are necessarily made of fruit, FRUCTA is therefore so weak that no legally relevant likelihood of confusion is created with the younger trade mark FRUCTAID.
The decision shows that likelihood of confusion analyses often depend on the inherent strength or weakness of a trade mark, and such strength can only be ascertained for the goods claimed. A term may be distinctive for some goods, but descriptive for others.
Image credit: from the flickr-stream of Ida Aalen (creative commons licensed).
Posted by: Mark Schweizer @ 10.43Tags: likelihood of confusion, relative grounds of refusal, Switzerland,
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