Successfully appealed, NEOGEN DERMALOGY accepted for registration

Trademark application No.4-2016-39469 - NEOGEN DERMALOGY (the appiled-for trademark)  December 12, 2016 of Outin futures Co., Ltd., located at Apple Tree Tower 14th FIoor, 443, Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea, for the products "Cosmetics, skin care cosmetics, skin care cosmetic preparations, scalp cosmetics, sunscreen cosmetics, skin cleansing foam preparations, hair care preparations, shampoos, soaps, lotions, beauty masks, skin masks (for use in cosmetics), cloths or tissues impregnated with skin cleansing preparations (for use in cosmetics), cosmetic pads, cleansing pads impregnated with cosmetics, tissues impregnated with cosmetics, cleansing pads impregnated with cosmetics, bleaching preparations" in Class 03 has been refused for registration on the ground of confusing similarity to cited earlier trademarks "NEOGENIC" (Intl’ TM registration (IRN) No.1131805 for products in Class 06 and "Neogence" (Vietnam’s TM Registration 329416) for products in Class 03; in addition the word element "DERMALOGY" in the applied-for trademark is descriptive, therefore is unregistrable as regulated by Article 74.2. (e) and (c) of the IP Law.

Considering that the above decision is unsatisfactory, the applicant has appealed, arguing as follows:

(i) "DERMALOGY" in the applied-for mark is a word created by the mark owner, not found in any English dictionary (which can be verified by search at dictionary.com and thesaurus.com) and not as the erroneous conclusion of the IP Vietnam’s trademark examiner that "DERMALOGY" originates from "Dermatology"- a meaningful terminology/word - with the word "to" omitted. As a self-created word, "DERMALOGY" has no meaning, of course does not describe the characteristics, properties, uses, etc. of any product, not just products in Class 06 mentioned above. "DERMALOGY" must be considered a distinctive word and can be registered as a trademark or a component of a trademark;

(ii) As a distinctive element, when "DERMALOGY" combined with “NEOGEN” to form the word combination "NEOGEN DERMALOGY", it also has distinguishing ability. This word combination contains 15 characters and will be pronounced in 6 syllables (ni:ә-dƷin-do-mo-lo-dƷi) and will be different from the cited earlier marks "NEOGENIC" and "Neogence" which  has only 08 characters and will be pronounced in 3 syllables (ni:ә-dƷin-nik and ni:ә-dƷin-so). These trademarks are different from each other in terms of their structure, pronunciation and overall impression.

Reviewing the case, the IP Vietnam concluded that the complaint’s arguments well-founded, so it issued Decision No.150557/QD-SHTT.Ip dated July 25, 2025, canceling the previous refusal decision and accepting registration for the trademark "NEOGEN DERMALOGY"./.