Mattel, owners of the Barbie brand, have requested that the US Patent and Trademark Office reject Burberry’s proposed “BRBY” trade mark claiming that the mark is likely to cause confusion amongst customers.
In a filing on Monday, Mattel argued that the British fashion house’s “BRBY” mark would mislead customers and cause them to believe that Burberry were associated with the Barbie products and merchandise which would consequently dilute the Barbie brand.
Last year, a federal trade mark application was made by Burberry for “BRBY”. Mattel submitted that “BRBY” and “Barbie” are both ‘visually similar’ and ‘phonetically identical’ and suggested that consumers could perceive “BRBY” to be a “subset or expansion of the Barbie trademarks”.
The case will be heard by the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
This demonstrates just how valuable trade marks and the associated goodwill can be to your brand and the importance of enforcing your rights to prevent competitors from piggy-backing on your brand.
If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
in: Case Law, Companies, Consumer Law, EU/International, Legal News, News, Trade Marks
