{"id":1118,"date":"2018-07-18T08:50:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T08:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2024-04-23T03:32:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T03:32:56","slug":"toys-r-us-succesfully-foils-a-third-partys-attempt-to-register-time-r-us-and-watch-r-us-in-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/?p=1118","title":{"rendered":"TOYS \u201cR\u201d US SUCCESFULLY FOILS A THIRD-PARTY\u2019S ATTEMPT TO REGISTER TIME R\u2019 US AND WATCH R\u2019 US IN THE PHILIPPINES"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Geoffrey, LLC (\u201cOpposer\u201d), the owner of the \u201cR\u201d US marks, opposed Dolly Chotrani\u2019s trademark applications \u00a0(\u201cRespondent-Applicant\u201d) for the WATCH R\u2019 US<\/strong> and TIME R\u2019 US<\/strong> marks as follows:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Opposer argued that \u201cTIME R\u2019 US\u201d and \u201cWATCH R\u2019 US\u201d are confusingly similar to its \u201cTOYS \u201cR\u201d US\u201d trademarks and its variants which are well known internationally and in the Philippines. The \u201cTOYS \u201cR\u201d US mark and its variants are registered in various jurisdictions and enjoy immense good-will due in part to the Opposer\u2019s aggressive and extensive promotions and advertisements. In the Philippines, the Opposer has registrations for \u201cTOYS \u201cR\u201d US\u201d and its other variants as early as the year 1995.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Respondent-Applicant conveniently pointed out that \u201cTOYS R US\u201d trademarks uses a reverse \u201cR\u201d with a star while the marks applied for neither consists of a reverse \u201cR\u201d nor a star and that the \u201cR\u201d us expression is not the dominant feature of \u201cTIME R\u2019 US\u201d and \u201cWATCH R\u2019 US\u201d. She further argued that the \u201cTOYS R US\u201d trademarks cover \u00a0children\u2019s toys while the \u201cTIME R\u2019 US\u201d and \u201cWATCH R\u2019 US\u201d marks seek to cover retail store specializing in watches, which cater to a different segment of the market.<\/p>

The Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) debunked the Respondent-Applicant\u2019s claim as follows:<\/p>

\u201cA comparison of the competing marks shows that they only differ in their first words, but the remaining portion, \u201cR\u201d US have the same spelling, except in Opposer\u2019s trademark with an inverted letter \u201cR\u201d. However, the manner in which the letter \u201cR\u201d is written does not make any significant difference because it will still be pronounced as the letter \u201cR\u201d or the words \u201care\u201d\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Furthermore, the BLA observes:<\/p>

\u201cA further examination of the marks also reveals that the dominant portion of the competing marks are the letters \u201cR\u201d and the pronoun \u201cUS\u201d, since the words like \u201cparties\u201d, \u201ctoys\u201d, \u201cbabies and \u201ctime\u201d and descriptive words or terms. Thus, standing alone, these words cannot be appropriated by any parties except when the word\/s have acquired secondary meaning\u201d.<\/em><\/p>

The BLA ruled that <\/em>confusion of goods is likely to occur in relation to Respondent Applicant\u2019s use of the marks, \u201cTime R\u2019 US\u201d and \u201cWatch R\u2019 US\u2019. This is because Opposer\u2019s \u201cR\u201d US trademarks are also used on wholesale and retail store services, which sell the same related products of watches and other time telling device and in such case, \u201ca person\u2019s goods or services are purchased as that of another person, and the poorer quality of the former reflects adversely on the latter\u2019s reputation\u201d.<\/p>

Finally, the BLA took judicial notice of the declaration of Opposer\u2019s trademark containing the dominant feature \u201cR US\u201d as well-known in Decision No. 2002-42 dated 26 December 2002.<\/p>

(Decision rendered in IPC No. 14-2015-00234 and IPC No. 14-2015-00116<\/em>)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoffrey, LLC (\u201cOpposer\u201d), the owner of the \u201cR\u201d US marks, opposed Dolly Chotrani\u2019s trademark applications \u00a0(\u201cRespondent-Applicant\u201d) for the WATCH R\u2019 US and TIME R\u2019 US marks as follows: The Opposer argued that \u201cTIME R\u2019 US\u201d and \u201cWATCH R\u2019 US\u201d are confusingly similar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3868,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions\/3868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veralaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}