Masterpiece Unveiled: Word ‘Naked’ Found to be Striking by Opposition Board Case Involving Alcoholic Beverage
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MASTERPIECEUNVEILED:WORD“NAKED”FOUNDTOBESTRIKINGBY
OPPOSITIONBOARDCASEINVOLVINGBEVERAGEALCOHOLIC
BARRYGAMACHE*
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L
AWYERS,PATENT&TRADEMARKAGENTS
ArecentdecisionbytheOppositionBoardofCanada’sTrade-marksOfficehas
appliedanimportantlegalprincipleenunciatedbytheSupremeCourtofCanadain
its2011landmarkdecisionMasterpieceInc.v.AlavidaLifestylesInc.,[2011]2S.C.R.
387(hereafter“Masterpiece”).InMasterpiece,theSupremeCourthighlightedthe
importanceofrecognizingatrade-mark’sstrikingoruniquecomponentwhen
examiningallegedlikelihoodofconfusionbetweentwotrade-marksundersection6
ofCanada’sTrade-marksAct,R.S.C.1985,c.T-13(hereafterthe“Act”)(Vincor
InternationalInc.v.ProximoSpirits,Inc.,2012TMOB44(T.M.O.B.),C.R.Folz,
March7,2012).
ProximoSpirits,Inc.(hereafter“Proximo”),aUScorporation,soughttoregisterin
Canadathetrade-markTHREEOLIVESNAKEDinassociationwith“alcoholic
beveragesnamely,vodka;premixedalcoholiccocktails”.Theapplicationwasfiledon
July23,2008onthebasisofproposeduseofthetrade-markinCanada.
Proximo’sapplicationwasopposedonNovember27,2009byVincorInternational
Inc.(hereafter“Vincor”)onvariousgroundsallraisingtheissueofallegedconfusion
betweentheappliedfortrade-markandVincor’sownregisteredtrade-marks
incorporatingthewordsNAKEDGRAPEinassociationwithwines.
TheOppositionBoard(hereafterthe“Board”)thereforehadtodecidewhetherthere
existedalikelihoodofconfusionbetweenProximo’sappliedforTHREEOLIVES
NAKEDtrade-markandVincor’sNAKEDGRAPEtrade-marks.Thetestforconfusion
isfoundinsection6(2)oftheActandprovidesthatuseofatrade-markcauses
confusionwithanothertrade-markiftheuseofbothtrade-marksinthesamearea
wouldbelikelytoleadtotheinferencethatthewaresorservicesassociatedwith
thosetrade-marksaremanufactured,sold,leased,hiredorperformedbythesame
person,whetherornotthewaresorservicesareofthesamegeneralclass.Section
6(5)oftheActfurtherprovidesthatinapplyingthetestforconfusion,theRegistrar
musthaveregardtoallthesurroundingcircumstancesincludinga)theinherent
distinctivenessofthetrade-marksandtheextenttowhichtheyhavebecomeknown;
b)thelengthoftimeeachhasbeeninuse;c)thenatureofthewares,servicesor
©CIPS,2012.*BarryGamacheisamemberofROBIC,LLP,afirmoflawyers,patentandtrademarkagents.
PublishedintheApril2012issueofWorldIntellectualPropertyLawReport.Publication142.263.
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business;d)thenatureofthetrade;ande)thede
greeofresemblancebetweenthe
trade-marksinappearanceorsoundorintheideassuggestedbythem.
Initsreasons,theBoardturnedtoMasterpiecetodeterminewhetherlikelihoodof
confusionexistedinthiscase.InMasterpiece,theSupremeCourtofCanada
acknowledged(atparagraph64)thatthefirstwordorpartofatrade-markmaybethe
mostimportantforpurposesofdistinctivenesswhenconductingalikelihoodof
confusionanalysis,butthatthepreferableapproachisrathertofirstconsiderwhether
thereisanaspectofthetrade-markthatisparticularlystrikingorunique.Withthisin
mind,theBoardexaminedtheinherentdistinctivenessofbothtrade-marksinorderto
determinewhethertherewasanyaspectoftheTHREEOLIVESNAKEDorNAKED
GRAPEtrade-marksthatwasparticularlystrikingorunique.Itconcludedthatboth
trade-markswereinherentlydistinctive,evenwritingthattheTHREEOLIVESNAKED
trade-markmightpossessaslightlyhigherdegreeofinherentdistinctiveness
becauseofitsuniquelinguisticconstruction.TheBoardfoundhoweverthatitwasthe
word“NAKED”thatwasthemoststrikingoruniquecomponentofbothtrade-marksat
issue.Moreover,thetrade-marksonbothsidessuggestedtheideaofafruitthatis
bare.Whilethereweredifferencesinbothparties’trade-marksinappearanceand
sound,thedegreeofresemblancebetweenthemarkswasdescribedbytheBoardas
“significant”.
TheevidencefiledbyVincorestablishedtheuseandnotorietyofitsNAKEDGRAPE
trade-marksinCanada.Ontheotherhand,Proximodidnotfileanyevidenceofuse
ofitstrade-mark.Furthermore,whileProximo’s“alcoholicbeverage,namelyvodka;
premixedalcoholiccocktails”werefoundnottobethesameasVincor’swines,both
parties’warescouldbedescribedasalcoholicbeveragesandproductsofasingle
industry.
Initsassessmentofallthesefactors,theBoardmentionedotherguidelinesoffered
bytheSupremeCourtofCanadainVeuveClicquotPonsardinv.BoutiquesCliquot
Ltée,[2006]1S.C.R.824,anotherimportantcasewheretheconfusiontestwas
describedinthefollowingfashion(atparagraph20):Thetesttobeappliedisamatter
offirstimpressioninthemindofacasualconsumersomewhatinahurrywhosees
thename[ofthejuniormark]onthe[junioruser’s]storefrontorinvoice,atatime
whenheorshehasnomorethananimperfectrecollectionofthe[senior]trade-
marks,anddoesnotpausetogivethematteranydetailedconsiderationorscrutiny,
nortoexaminecloselythesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthemarks.
Finally,theBoardindicatedthatProximoboretheburdenofestablishingthatits
appliedfortrade-markwasnotreasonablylikelytocauseconfusionwithVincor’s
marks.AccordingtotheBoard,thismeantthatProximohadtoestablishthatthe
absenceofconfusionwasmoreprobablethanitsexistence.TheBoardconcluded
thatProximohadnotdischargeditsburden.Inreachingthisconclusion,ithighlighted
thefactthatProximohadusedthemostdistinctiveaspectofVincor’smarksinits
appliedfortrade-marki.e.theword“NAKED”.TheBoardwasthereforeunableto
concludethataconsumerwithageneralrecollectionofVincor’smarkswouldnotbe
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likelytothinkthattheparties’waressharedaco
mmonsourceuponseeingProximo’s
mark.Vincor’soppositionwasthereforesuccessful.
ThisdecisionisatimelyillustrationofthefreshapproachadoptedbyCanada’s
SupremeCourtwhendeterminingifthereislikelihoodofconfusionbetweentrade-
marks:oneshouldalwayslooktoatrade-mark’smoststrikingoruniqueelementand
determinewhetheritspresenceinthejuniormarkislikelytocreateconfusion.Forthe
owneroftheseniormark,thiscouldbehelpfulincaseswherethemarksatissue
mightdiffersomewhatinappearanceandsound.
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