Rejection 2024-020246 (JP Appl. No. 2023-112271)

The applied-for-trademark consists of letter string “floral amber” in standard characters. “Floral” is a word meaning “scents of flowers”.  “Amber” is a word meaning “fossilized tree resin”.

The subject application designates goods featuring scent.
The scent is a factor considered when selecting such goods.

The words “floral” and “amber” are commonly used to describe types of scent.

In addition, when describing a blended scent, a method of combining multiple words is used to describe the type of scent. “Floral amber” is commonly used to describe types of scent.

With the above in mind, it is reasonable to say that consumers do not recognize the applied-for-trademark as distinguishing mark because “floral amber” can be easily recognized as “a scent combining a floral scent and an amber scent” and because consumers solely recognize the applied-for-trademark as a quality of goods (types of scents).

Thus, the applied-for-trademark should not be registered.

The applicant argued that the applied-for trademark should be registered because the following marks combining several types of scent were registered:

-Amber Lily and Amber Lily in katakana

-MUSK BOUQUET

-Muguet Honey and Muguet Honey in katakana

-ROSE CASSIS and ROSE CASSIS in katakana, etc.