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"CINQUANTE-CINQ" and "55" Confusingly Similar for Wine, Says TTAB, Equivalently

By John L. Welch

There was no equivocation in the Board's application of the doctrine of foreign equivalents to find the mark shown immediately below likely to cause confusion with the registered mark CINQUANTE-CINQ, both for wine. Applicant unsuccessfully argued, based on its interpretation of the CAFC's decision in Palm Bay Imports, Inc. v. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Maison Fondee En 1772, 73 USPQ2d 1689 (Fed. Cir. 2005), that the average American purchaser would not "stop and translate" the French term into its English equivalent, the number "55." In re SAS Lataste, Serial No. 79015771 (March 28, 2008) [not precedential].Examining Attorney Leigh A. Lowry maintained that the registered mark translates from French to English precisely as "Fifty-Five," and that the dominant portion of Applicant's mark is the numeral "55...continue to full post

Full post as published by The TTABlog on April 14, 2008 (boomark / email).