The case of Adidas International Marketing BV v Lutong Enterprise Corp [2018] SGIPOS 12 was a battle between two established companies.
Adidas has brought forward the claim for opposition.
The argument arose as Adidas claimed that Lutong Enterprise’s trademark was similar to theirs. Adidas’ trademark was designed after Lutong Enterprise has designed their trademark. Both trademarks were used for clothing, footwear and headgear.
There were two main arguments presented by Adidas.
Firstly, the shape was similar in a sense that it was triangular.
Secondly, there will be a likelihood of confusion by the general public as they will not be aware of the differences, and would be mistaken of Lutong for Adidas, eventually tarnishing their business due to Lutong’s price being cheaper.
The decision held was that there was no similarity between the trademarks. Both trademarks shared different concepts. Adidas’ trademark was the shape of a mountain while Lutong’s trademark was shaped like an athlete before a long jump. Besides, there is a circle in Lutong’s trademark that made the logo distinctive from Adidas. Furthermore, triangular shapes are basic geometry shape and the argument that it belongs to Adidas only was not accepted.
Quoting the Hearing Officer, it was said that “A triangle whose right angle points upwards may give the visual impression of a mountain, or at least something grounded. A triangle whose right angle points downwards gives a significantly different visual impression, that of something en pointe, perched or being balance”.
It can be concluded that grounds for opposition is a hard Section to establish. Nonetheless, you can still have a chance to defend your trademark and claim what is yours, as how Lutong Enterprise Corp did. The only requirement is that you need to be the rightful owner of the trademark. To be the rightful owner, you have to first register your trademark.
