Singapore – Substantiation of Allegation of Bad Faith May Entitle Tribunal to Declare A Trademark Invalid

Swiss Company Vetements Group AG (the “Applicant”) sought to invalidate the following mark which had been registered in Singapore by a Chinese Company, Xiamen Vetements Brand Management Co., Ltd (the “Registered Proprietor”) for clothing in Class 25. While the Registered Proprietor filed its response to the invalidation application, it did not file its supporting evidence in […]

SINGAPORE: Visual Similarity Wins High Court Judgment for Twitter

This decision from the High Court in Singapore, issued on November 23, 2022, illustrates the delicate balance a tribunal must undertake when assessing the similarity between two device marks. The High Court in Singapore set out the proper approach to understanding and applying the concepts of distinctiveness, and visual and conceptual similarity. VV Technology appealed […]

SINGAPORE: No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk

This decision recaps and applies the case law surrounding the marks-similarity enquiry. A2 filed a consolidated opposition against Nestlé’s trademarks  (Trademark Application No. 40201926155W) and  (Trademark Application No. 40201907176S) (collectively, the Application Marks), relying on A2’s own registered trademarks for . A2 unsuccessfully argued that a likelihood of confusion would arise between A2’s trademarks and the Application Marks, […]

SINGAPORE: Registrar Is Unconvinced by Similarity and Bad-Faith Allegations

This decision shows that a high threshold of proof is required to be successful in trademark similarity and bad-faith allegations. Despite two competing marks sharing the same word, stylistic and emphatic differences can render them dissimilar. Even in those circumstances, sufficient distinction between those marks remains commercially acceptable and can rebut an allegation of bad […]

SINGAPORE: Infringement Claim Rejected and Mark Expunged Due to Unacceptable Behavior

In a recent case, the relationship between the two parties was crucial to ascertaining that an application was made in bad faith and claimant’s conduct “did not meet the acceptable commercial behavior observed by reasonable and experienced men.” In its decision issued on September 16, 2022, the court dismissed the claimant’s infringement claim in its […]

Singapore: Corporate names, domain names and social media handles serve as evidence towards trademark use

The applicant, Floor Xpert Pte Ltd sought to register (the subject mark) under, amongst others, Class 37 for certain services in relation to flooring and maintenance. The applicant claimed that the subject mark had acquired distinctiveness from usage. The trademark examiners were not persuaded by the evidence submitted to this end. In particular, the evidence of acquired […]

SINGAPORE: Examiner Rejects “PARTY LIKE GATSBY” Mark for Lack of Distinctiveness

Slogans are useful tools in brand advertisements. However, as they often consist of ordinary words and phrases which are laudatory in nature, slogans generally do not meet the distinctiveness requirement for purposes of trademark registration in the absence of evidence of use. The following recent case reminds us of this. Arangur UG (haftungsbeschrankt) (applicant) applied […]