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Three Sevens trump Seven for all Mankind, rules CJEU
Jeans maker 7 For All Mankind lost its final bid to secure a Community trade mark (CTM) for its name after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the opposition of Seven, an Italian backpack manufacturer.
7 for all Mankind did pretty well at the Opposition Division and Board of Appeal stages, but its CTM application came unstuck in the General Court, where its word mark was held to have sufficient similarity to the opponent's three earlier figurative marks (one of which is illustrated here) containing the word "seven" for there to be a likelihood of confusion.
The CJEU did not find fault with the view of the General Court that the words "for all Mankind" which followed the "7" were not enough to avoid the risk of confusion since consumers would regard them as a description of the target market for whom goods bearing that legend were intended.
Source: Case C‑655/11 P, Seven for all mankind LLC v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, Seven SpA, reported by Stephanie Bodoni (Bloomberg).
Posted by: Blog Administrator @ 22.42
Tags: CJEU appeal, comparison of marks, likelihood of confusion,
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