Derrick Kandan
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Illinois
I registered for my trademark few months back and just got a letter that my trademark was refused because of the following reason: Refusal – Likelihood of Confusion
I read the reasoning of the trademark examining attorney, but feel strongly that he's wrong in his explanation. He says that:
My company/brand name: JADE FLEUR is similar to another company name called FLEUR FLEUR, which is also in the same trademark class - jewelry. And there is a Similarity of Marks and Similarity of Goods.
(fyi - I changed the actual company brand name for this example since I don't want to make it public because of the ongoing situation)
First, I don't understand how a customer can be confused by these two brand names, in my opinion they are different. I agree that they have a "common word", but I feel they are still different. I've seen a lot of famous fashion brands where they have the same "last name" but different first names. And they have trademarks to these names. Am I getting this correct?
Second, the similarity of goods reasoning- I checked the other company and they deal in dog jewelry. My brand/company is starting a regular jewelry line for women. How can these goods be similar?
I wanted to know if anyone can help me understand how this happened? Does the reasoning make sense? What are the likely chances of winning an appeal given the above reasoning? Should I put in time and money to appeal? Or since I just started my company/brand, should I change the name and try for a new trademark?
I read the reasoning of the trademark examining attorney, but feel strongly that he's wrong in his explanation. He says that:
My company/brand name: JADE FLEUR is similar to another company name called FLEUR FLEUR, which is also in the same trademark class - jewelry. And there is a Similarity of Marks and Similarity of Goods.
(fyi - I changed the actual company brand name for this example since I don't want to make it public because of the ongoing situation)
First, I don't understand how a customer can be confused by these two brand names, in my opinion they are different. I agree that they have a "common word", but I feel they are still different. I've seen a lot of famous fashion brands where they have the same "last name" but different first names. And they have trademarks to these names. Am I getting this correct?
Second, the similarity of goods reasoning- I checked the other company and they deal in dog jewelry. My brand/company is starting a regular jewelry line for women. How can these goods be similar?
I wanted to know if anyone can help me understand how this happened? Does the reasoning make sense? What are the likely chances of winning an appeal given the above reasoning? Should I put in time and money to appeal? Or since I just started my company/brand, should I change the name and try for a new trademark?
