Cancellation 2022-300760 (JP Reg. No. 1969745)

Please see “Summary of Judgement.”

January 05, 2024

 (the registered mark)
  (stylized)

(the used mark)

REOS SF-50M

(JP Reg. No. 1969745)
  OMITTED

  The appeal trial Examiners acknowledged that the term “SF-50M” in the used trademark could be interpreted as a product number for the designated goods, based on the submitted evidence of use.
  Accordingly, the appeal trial Examiners judged that the main part of the used trademark is “REOS,” which corresponded to the registered mark.
  As a result, the appeal trial Examiners did not allow the cancellation of the trademark registration, reasoning that the used mark is the same as the registered mark, even when considering conventional wisdom.

  We consider it possible that the appeal trial Examiners might not have judged “REOS” as the main part of the used trademark if the evidence of use has failed to demonstrate that “SF-50M” is a product number for the designated goods.  Therefore, we believe that the owner of “JP Reg. No. 1969745” should have used the trademark in a form such as (or , for instance, by altering the size and font of the term “SF-50M” to increase the likelihood that the appeal trial Examiners would recognize that the term “REOS” as the main part of the used trademark) to overcome the non-use cancellation.

  In particular, we believe that the owner should have added the Ⓡ symbol immediately after the registered mark.  If this has been done, we believe that the appeal trial Examiners would mostly likely have not mentioned the demonstration that “SF-50M” is a product number for the designated goods as the grounds for the decision.