{"id":515,"date":"2021-01-08T02:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T07:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/?p=515"},"modified":"2021-01-23T22:17:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T03:17:41","slug":"its-ok-to-give-less-weight-to-suggestive-and-descriptive-terms-when-comparing-marks-as-a-whole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/?p=515","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s OK to Give Less Weight to Suggestive and Descriptive Terms when Comparing Marks as a Whole"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cafc.uscourts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/opinions-orders\/20-1304.OPINION.1-7-2021_1713761.pdf\">Quiktrip West, Inc., v. Weigel Stores, Inc.<\/a>,[2020-1304] (January 7, 2021), the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Quiktrip\u2019s opposition to registration of Weigel\u2019s <strong>W WEIGEL\u2019S KITCHEN NOW OPEN<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"295\" height=\"81\" src=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-516\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>in view of QuikTrip\u2019s QT KITCHENS mark:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"339\" height=\"162\" src=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-1.png 339w, https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-1-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Board evaluated the likelihood of confusion between the marks by referencing the factors set forth in <em>In re E. I. DuPont de Nemours &amp; Co<\/em>. It first found that the parties\u2019 identical-in-part goods and related services, overlapping trade channels, overlapping classes of customers, and similar conditions of purchase pointed to a likelihood of confusion finding. However, the Board found that the dissimilarity of the marks weighed against a likelihood of confusion. In conducting its similarity analysis, the Board acknowledged that both marks include the word \u201cKITCHEN(S)\u201d but determined that customers would not focus on that word for source identification because it is \u201cat least highly suggestive, if not descriptive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Federal Circuit agreed that the Board correctly analyzed the marks as a whole, saying that it is not improper for the Board to determine that, for rational reasons, it should give \u201cmore or less weight to a particular feature of the mark\u201d provided that its ultimate conclusion regarding the likelihood of confusion rests on a consideration of the marks in their entireties.\u00a0 The Federal Circuit said that the Board properly found that, when evaluating the similarity of the marks, it should accord less weight to the shared term KITCHEN(S) because \u201ckitchen\u201d is a \u201chighly suggestive, if not descriptive\u201d word.\u00a0 The Federal Circuit added that the Board was entitled to afford more weight to the dominant, distinct portions of the mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Quiktrip West, Inc., v. Weigel Stores, Inc.,[2020-1304] (January 7, 2021), the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Quiktrip\u2019s opposition to registration of Weigel\u2019s W WEIGEL\u2019S KITCHEN NOW OPEN: in view of QuikTrip\u2019s QT KITCHENS mark: The Board evaluated the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/?p=515\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}