A Few Notable Appeal Decisions by the JPO
November 2011
The Japan Patent Office (JPO) made a few notable appeal decisions recently involving some international corporations and an American rock band.
The JPO Board of Appeals upheld the decision of its examiner to refuse registration of the mark “KISS” for the rock band Kiss, in classes 9 and 28, on the grounds that it was similar to the previously-filed mark “Kiss FM KOBE 89.9”.
The JPO Board of Appeals invalidated three trademarks in response to post-registration third-party objections filed by Pfizer, Chevron, and Valentino. In each of the three cases, the JPO Board of Appeals invalidated the trademarks because it found that they were likely to cause confusion.
Pfizer objected to the registration of the mark “phcker”, in international class 5, which was designed so that the “h” looks like the “f” in Pfizer’s mark.
Chevron objected to the registration of the mark “CHEVRON (with Kana)”, in international class 11.
Valentino objected to the registration of the mark “VINCENZO VALENTINO”, in international class 25.
The latter three cases are significant because it is somewhat rare for the JPO Board of Appeals to invalidate registered trademarks upon a third party’s post-registration objection.
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