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Baby Bunting may have hit a snag in its quest to register trademarks for new branding, with global technology firm BlackBerry Limited filing an opposition to Baby Bunting's application for a logo representing "the silhouettes of two pregnant women".
Baby goods chain Baby
Bunting lodged applications with IP Australia in November 2019 to
trademark the letters 'BB' in a logo that reflects the shapes of those
letters.
It filed applications for the rights to use the imagery
in more than 20 product categories, mostly relating to baby and
childrens’ goods but also extending to online advertisements and the
promotion of goods and services. One part of the application is for the
marks to be used in Canada, though sources close to the company said
this did not mean the brand was intending to expand overseas.
On
January 28, BlackBerry Limited filed an indication it would oppose the
registration of the marks through its lawyers Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Technology
giant BlackBerry Limited is listed on the New-York Stock Exchange and
Toronto Stock Exchange and makes smartphones and data security products
with a market capitalisation of US $3.4 billion ($5.1 billion).
Its
stock code is BB and its logo is a series of black and white shapes.
BlackBerry owns the trademark to this logo in Australia.
A Baby
Bunting spokesman said the retailer had not yet received documents from
BlackBerry as to why it opposed the marks, but rejected the idea that
the two logos were similar enough to be confused.
"We consider
that the Baby Bunting and BlackBerry logos are clearly very different.
Both organisations operate in entirely different markets and we believe
there is no realistic likelihood of confusion arising between the
BlackBerry logo and Baby Bunting’s new brand logo," he said.
"The
new Baby Bunting logo clearly depicts the silhouettes of pregnant
women. It is not clear to us that the BlackBerry logo has any clear 'B'
element."
BlackBerry would not confirm it had opposed the marks
and said it would not comment further as the company never commented on
legal matters. It is required to file details of its opposition by
February 28.
Baby Bunting said while it had filed applications
for the new branding to apply to 24 product classes, BlackBerry’s
objection was only to one of those classes of use.
Close to 80,000 trademark applications were filed in Australia last year through national body IP Australia.
The
number of applications are sitting at record highs, mostly driven by
more applications flowing through from offshore entities, according to
IP Australia's annual report.
Only around 2 per cent of
applications are ever opposed, and most of those applications are
resolved prior to getting to court. Only around 10 per cent of cases are
appealed to the Federal Court.
Source: smh.com.au
Author:Emma Koehn
Editor:Vapor