We are a boutique IP firm located in Osaka, Japan, specializing in trademark, design, specific unfair competition and copyright matters.

Bottom line: The Board found “LC/ecosys(stylized)” not similar to “ECOSYS” / “ECOSiS”.

The applicant filed a trademark application for “LC/ecosys(stylized)” shown below in Classes 7, 9, 11, 16 and 42. The Examiner cited 7 prior marks, various representation of “ECOSYS” in Classes 7, 9, 11, 24, 25 and 37 and “ECOSiS/eco conscious with device” in Classes 39, 40 and 42.

The designated goods and services of the applied-for mark are identical or similar with those of the cited marks.  So the question is whether the marks are distinguishable or not.  The Board found as follows:

- All letters of the applied-for mark are in white and orderly placed in a square block in green, which are unified as a whole.
- “LC” in the upper part of the applied-for mark will not be recognized as an item code or a model number.
- The applied-for mark is pronounced as [e-ru-si:-e-ko-si-su] as a whole.
- The cited marks are all pronounced as [e-ko-si-su].
- Now the Board compared the two marks and held that the sound of the marks is significantly different.
- Overall, the applied-for mark and the cited marks are not confusingly similar.

And so the Board reversed the refusal, and the application for “LC/ecosys(stylized)” was granted for registration.

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