One new interesting trademark dispute, reported by Masaki Mikami, was solved by the Japan Patent Office.
The case at hand concerns a new trademark application in Japan filed by an individual for the sign JEEPER in class 8 – hand tools.
Against this application, an opposition was filed by the automotive manufacturer Fiat Chrysler. The ground was an earlier mark JEEP for which the company claimed reputation amongst Japanese consumers due to which arising of confusion was possible.
The Patent Office admitted that the earlier mark JEEP has some level of reputation in the country but disputed the fact that it covers the above-mentioned goods in class 8.
According to the Office, both signs were not similar enough from the visual and phonetic points of view. Conceptually there was no similarity too because the mark applied for had no specific meaning while the earlier mark was associating with 4×4 vehicles.
Based on this the opposition was dismissed in its entirety.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PLANET 