For the whole decision click here: o18303
Result
Section 5(2)(b) - Opposition successful.
Points Of Interest
Summary
This was a re-hearing of an opposition (see BL O/111/02) at the direction of the Appointed Person (see BL O/433/02) who had ruled that the original finding of the Registrar’s Hearing Officer was flawed in that it was partly based on a legal argument to which neither party had had an opportunity of reply or of making fresh submissions.
The Hearing Officer at this re-hearing considered that whilst the whole of the original decision had been remitted, it was generally agreed that only the Section 5(2)(b) finding was in dispute.
Since neither party disputed that the goods at issue were identical or similar, the matter came down to a comparison of the mark. These, the Hearing Officer decided, were PC, in a stylised script form, and PC CLEAR. The CLEAR element of the mark could, in the Hearing Officer view, be a descriptor of the goods concerned. In the result he found a likelihood of confusion and the opposition under Section 5(2)(b) succeeded, reversing the original finding.
His award of costs was directed solely at the costs of the re-hearing.