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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> XAROCID (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2003] UKIntelP o14003 (12 May 2003)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2003/o14003.html
Cite as: [2003] UKIntelP o14003
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XAROCID (Trade Mark: Opposition) [2003] UKIntelP o14003 (12 May 2003)
For the whole decision click here: o14003
Trade mark decision
- BL Number
- O/140/03
- Decision date
- 12 May 2003
- Hearing officer
- Mr Geoffrey Hobbs QC
- Mark
- XAROCID
- Classes
- 05
- Applicants/Respondents
- Bayer AG
- Opponents/Appellants
- Merrell Pharmaceuticals Inc
- Appeal to the Appointed Person against the decisions of the Registrar’s Hearing Officer in opposition proceedings.
Result
Appeal failed.
Points Of Interest
- 1. Invented words: "The fact that the marks are invented words does have a bearing on the question whether they are sufficiently different to be readily distinguishable in ordinary use in the marketplace."
Summary
At first instance (see BL O/477/02) the Hearing Officer had found that registration of the mark XAROCID in the face of the earlier mark TARGOCID was not contrary to the provisions of Sections 5(2)(b) or 5(4)(a).
Having reviewed the matter the Appointed Person, not without hesitation, upheld the Hearing Officer’s decision. The phonetic similarity between the invented words was such that he regarded the opposition as "a near miss".
Nevertheless, the appeal failed.