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Protection of “V-CUBE" as a whole, no protection for "V" when standing alone

17/06/2019
Applied-for mark "V-CUBE" under Internatinal application No.1055891 of  V-cube, Inc., (Japan), registered for Classes 09 and 42 has been temporarily rejected by the NOIP on the ground that the applied-for mark is confusingly similar to the prior/cited trademark "G-CUBE 3 be yourself ... inspire others, device"...

Applied-for mark "V-CUBE" under Internatinal application No.1055891 of  V-cube, Inc., (Japan), registered for Classes 09 and 42 has been temporarily rejected by the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP – Refusal Notice No. 2011/26 NTH 18 July 6, 2012) on the ground that the applied-for mark is confusingly similar to the prior/cited trademark "G-CUBE 3 be yourself ... inspire others, device" of Registration Certificate No. 120095 under the name of  Ya-Ning Cheng/Family Name Cheng (Taiwan).

The applicant - V-cube Inc.- appealed against the NOIP's refusal notice, arguing that (i) the applied-for trademark is a verbal mark, consisting of two word elements, i.e., "V" and "CUBE", while the cited mark is a composed trademark combining word components and image, (ii) although the word "CUBE" in the applied-for mark is similar to the word element "CUBE" in the cited trademark but this word has been accepted for registration for Classes 09 and 42 under name of some different entities  (for example, the mark "CUBE MEMORY" ”, International Registration No. 658783 of Dane-Elec Holding SA; the mark “JEWEL CUBE”, International Registration No. 662712 of Bose BV etc..), (iii) the word " V " in the applied-for mark is not similar to the remainder of the cited mark, and (v) the cited mark’s validity has expired since July 9, 2017, no renewal was made by its owner.

Holding the appealant’s arguments grounded, the NOIP issued Decision No. 2663 QD-SHTT on May 21, 2019 to cancel its previous refusal notice and to proceed with the procedure for protection of the "V-CUBE" trademark as a whole, no protection for the verbal element "V" when standing alone.

 

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