May 2004
Chanel's court win over Coco de Mer
Chanel's famous COCO trademark symbolises fashion, perfume and cosmetic products throughout the world.
Coco de Mer, a Covent Garden based shop owned by Samantha Roddick, the daughter of Body Shop founder Anita, wanted to register its name as a trade mark. Chanel opposed to COCO DE MER trade mark application. Chanel argued that shoppers might confuse the two companies as one and the same. The Trade Marks Registry upheld the opposition on the ground of the strength of Chanel's COCO mark.
The matter went to court and the court held that the Trade Marks Registry had been right to refuse to register the name COCO DE MER as a brand because of the risk of confusion with the earlier COCO mark by the public.
Briffa Comment:
If someone is intending to register an identical or similar trade mark to your existing mark it is possible to prevent the registration by filing an opposition at the Trade Marks Registry. All trade mark applications are published at the Trade Marks Journal and it is possible to set up a watching service to identify any identical or confusingly similar marks. To find out more about trade mark watching service please contact Briffa.