Log in

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.

Want to receive Class 46 by email?
Click here subscribe for free.

Who we all are...
Anthonia Ghalamkarizadeh
Birgit Clark
Blog Administrator
Christian Tenkhoff
Fidel Porcuna
Gino Van Roeyen
Markku Tuominen
Niamh Hall
Nikos Prentoulis
Stefan Schröter
Tomasz Rychlicki
Yvonne Onomor
TUESDAY, 24 MAY 2011
McKinley v. McKenzie

In Judgment T-502/07, the GC confirmed that there is no likelihood of confusion  between CTM application and earlier figurative CTM McKinley for similar goods in Classes 18 and 25.

The Board of Appeal correctly held that the relevant public recognized the prefix ‘Mc’ as a prefix to many Scottish or Irish family names which constitute trade marks, particularly in the clothing sector. The attention of the relevant public will not focus specifically on that prefix, nor does it constitute the dominant element.

Further, the public will consider the elements of the marks as Celtic family names without specifically association to the names of mountains -McKinley being the name of the highest mountain in North America; the association of that element with the name of a mountain is all the more conspicuous with regard to the earlier Community figurative mark McKINLEY, since it contains the drawing of a symbolic mountain. By contrast, the fact that the element ‘McKenzie’ is identical to the name of a mountain situated in Australia is little known. Thus the trademarks are sufficiently visually and conceptually different so as to exclude any likelihood of confusion.

Posted by: Laetitia Lagarde @ 13.11
Tags: General court, likelihood of confusion, mckinley,
Sharing on Social Media? Use the link below...
Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA2390
Reader Comments: 0
Post a Comment


MARQUES does not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this blog. The views are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of MARQUES. Seek professional advice before action on any information included here.


The Class 46 Archive






 

 

 

 

 

 


CONTACT

info@marques.org
+44 (0)116 2747355
POST ADDRESS

9 Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way
Bardon, Leicestershire
LE67 1UE

EMAIL

Ingrid de Groot
Internal Relations Officer
ingrid.de.groot@marques.org
Alessandra Romeo
External Relations Officer
aromeo@marques.org
James Nurton
Newsletter Editor
editor@marques.org
Robert Harrison
Webmaster
robertharrison@marques.org
BLOGS

Signup for our blogs.
Headlines delivered to your inbox