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Bottom line: The Board found “FORUM PHARMACEUTICALS” logo not confusingly similar to “The Consumer Goods FORUM” logo.

The applicant filed a trademark application for “FORUM PHARMACEUTICALS” logo shown below designating consultancy and analysis in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceutical research and development, etc. in Class 42.  The examiner refused to register the mark, citing “The Consumer Goods FORUM” logo also shown below for research and consulting service in the field of the assessment of compliance with norms, standards, benchmarks for the evaluation of management and quality control systems, etc. in class 42.

<Applied-for mark>

<Cited mark>

Part of the designated services of the applied-for mark are similar to those of the cited mark.  So, the question is whether the applied-for mark is similar to the cited mark or not.

The Board analyzed the cited mark and found as follows:

- The cited mark is composed of a device, “The Consumer Goods”, “FORUM” and “The Global Network Serving Shopper & Consumer Needs”.  “The Consumer Goods” and “FORUM” on the right of the mark are visually unified as a whole, and can be pronounced without a break.
- “xxx FORUM” means “a forum for xxx” and such term is commonly used.  So, consumers and traders will recognize that “The Consumer Goods FORUM” wholly means “a forum for the consumer goods”, and will not extract “FORUM” alone.
- Therefore, the examiner’s decision is not appropriate that the applied-for mark is similar to the cited mark.

And so the Board reversed the refusal, and granted registration of “FORUM PHARMACEUTICALS” logo.