Luxury fashion house and owner of the brand MIU MIU, Prada Group, has failed in its opposition filing to block the registration of a trade mark application for “JIU JIU” in Taiwan. The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (“IPO”) held that it was not confusingly similar to Prada’s “MIU MIU” trade mark registered in Taiwan and ruled in the favour of the applicant, Dijia Co., Ltd.
The trade mark dispute started in December 2023 when Prada filed an opposition on the grounds that “JIU JIU” was visually and phonetically similar to its “MIU MIU” trade mark. Prada argued that the application was likely to cause confusion amongst consumers because it covered the same, if not similar goods, namely those in class 3 for personal care products, such as perfume and cosmetics. It also claimed that the application would cause misidentification, as consumers could perceive it to be a part of MIU MIU’s trade mark portfolio or at least associate it with the brand because of the application’s appearance and pronunciation. However, Dijia Co. disagreed on the basis that the marks were different in this respect and thus that the marks would not be confused with one another, and that its mark for ‘JIU JIU’ was distinct in any event.
The IPO decided that there is no likelihood of confusion as the marks are low in similarity, and phonetically distinct and visually dissimilar despite the repeated “–IU” ending. In respect of market recognition, the IPO held that neither party provided enough evidence to prove that the marks were known in Taiwan in relation to the similar class 3 goods listed. Therefore, Prada did not meet the threshold to successfully oppose the ‘JIU JIU’ application, which will now proceed in the trade mark process.
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