The registration was opposed by the owner of the earlier CTM "IMOVIE", which claims protection for identical or at least similar goods in classes 9, 38, 41 and 42.

During the proceedings the opponent tried to augment the apparently inherently very low distinctiveness of his sign ("i" referring to internet) by stating that a respective software product "iMovie" had been installed on millions of Macintosh computers as part of the software suite ILife since 2006. However, he mentioned that detailed sales figures are highly confidential and thus did not provide them...

The German Patent and Trademark Office rejected the opposition twice stating that there is no risk of confusion between the signs due to the additional letter "i", the conceptual differences and the rather low distinctiveness of the earlier sign.

The Bundespatentgericht now confirmed that decision. Accordingly the documents filed be the opponent (merely an affidavit  without showing detailed sales figures) were deemed to be insufficient to increase the very low inherent distinctiveness of the sign "IMOVIE" (apparently the judges do not own iMacs or likewise products as otherwise they might very well have known the respective software...). Thus the differences between the signs were regarded as sufficient to avoid a risk of confusion.

Interestingly the decision explicitly mentions that even if considering the distinctiveness of the earlier sign being close to average the signs would still be sufficiently different. This member of class 46, however, tends to think that this is rather arguable keeping in mind the very strong visual similarities of the signs.

Case reference: Bundespatentgericht 26 W (pat) 109/10  of August 31, 2011. The decision can be retrieved from the court’s website by following the above link.