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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions
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FIRO (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2000] UKIntelP o45300 (5 December 2000)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2000/o45300.html
Cite as:
[2000] UKIntelP o45300
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FIRO (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2000] UKIntelP o45300 (5 December 2000)
For the whole decision click here: o45300
Trade mark decision
- BL Number
- O/453/00
- Decision date
- 5 December 2000
- Hearing officer
- Mr M Knight
- Mark
- FIRO
- Classes
- 16, 41
- Applicant
- Consulting Psychologist Press Inc
- Opponent
- Will Schutz Associates Inc
- Opposition
- Section 3(3)(b); 3(6) & 5(4)(a)
Result
Section 3(3)(b) - Opposition dismissed.
Section 3(6) - Opposition succeeded.
Section 5(4)(a) - Opposition failed.
Points Of Interest
-
Case under Section 3(6) determined by ownership of trade mark rights ''if any''
Summary
It was common ground between the parties that FIRO was an acronym coined by Mr Schutz in the 1950's, standing for "Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation". The dispute was over the present ownership of the intellectual property rights in that term. The Hearing Officer dismissed the Section 3(3)(b) ground as misconceived. The opponents failed to prove their case under Section 5(4)9a). Under Section 3(6), however the Hearing Officer found that any trade mark rights in the term (if there were in fact any such rights) had remained with the opponents. The opposition succeeded on that ground.