Harper & Bates Secures Dismissal of Opposition at TTAB

Harper & Bates partner Scott Harper and associate Laura Brock secured the dismissal of a trademark opposition brought against a firm client at the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB). The TTAB found there was no evidence to support a likelihood of confusion between the marks at issue and dismissed the opposition.

The client’s trademark application depicted a lightning bolt in the middle of a shield, while plaintiff’s trademark contained a lightning bolt integrated in a circular design. The plaintiff opposed the client’s trademark application claiming consumers would likely be confused between the two trademark designs. After reviewing the submissions of both parties, the TTAB ruled in favor of the firm’s client stating it found “the evidence of record insufficient to establish a likelihood of confusion” and that the plaintiff failed to prove that confusion between the trademarks at issue is likely.

In its opinion, the TTAB found that while most of the factors in the analysis of the likelihood of confusion “were close or neutral,” the evidence demonstrated that “the level of purchaser care and sophistication…is substantially greater than that of an ordinary consumer in an ordinary transaction” which “significantly reduces the risk of confusion and outweighs the other likelihood of confusion factors” in the case at bar. As a result, the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed and the client’s trademark application will move on to issuance as a federally registered trademark.