If the third-party marks and opposer’s marks are identical, the opposer’s marks and the applicant’s marks are compared to see if they are identical or non-identical for identical goods or services.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) finding there to be a likelihood of confusion between an applicant’s mark and an opposer’s mark. The court found that it is inconsistent to give evidence of third-party registrations probative value but find the evidence in no way weakens the opposer’s marks and directed the TTAB to reweigh the likelihood of confusion between the marks (Bad Elf, LLC v. Flex Ltd., August 14, 2023, Dyk, T.).
Case date: 14 August 2023
Case number: No. 22-1839
Court: United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
_____________________________
To make sure you do not miss out on regular updates from the Kluwer Trademark Blog, please subscribe here.
Kluwer IP Law
The 2022 Future Ready Lawyer survey showed that 79% of lawyers think that the importance of legal technology will increase for next year. With Kluwer IP Law you can navigate the increasingly global practice of IP law with specialized, local and cross-border information and tools from every preferred location. Are you, as an IP professional, ready for the future?
Learn how Kluwer IP Law can support you.
