Applied-for-trademark: 

Cited trademark 1:

Cited trademark 2:

Cited trademark 3:

Designated services of the applied-for-trademark:
Procurement services for others [purchasing goods and services for other businesses]; and others in class 35, and metal treating in class 40

Designated services of Cited trademark 1:
Business management analysis and consultancy services; and others in class 35, and others

Designated services of Cited trademark 2:
Metal treating; and others in class 40, and others

Designated services of Cited trademark 3:
Business management analysis or business consultancy; and others in class 35, and others

(1) Applied-for-trademark:

The applied-for-trademark consists of the English letter string “CR” (in black), a device (in gray) consisting of three horizontal lines of equal length arranged diagonally upward to the right, and an English letter string “ST” (in black) horizontally. It is impossible to recognize what the device portion stands for specific devices or letters clearly. Thus, the device portion does not have any specific pronunciations or meanings. Further, the color of the device portion is different from the color of the adjacent letters. Thus, they are not indivisible as a whole.

With the above in mind, it is reasonable to say that the applied-for-trademark has a pronunciation of “C.R.S.T.”, but does not have any specific meanings corresponding to the composing letters.

(2) Conclusion:

The appeal Examiners concluded that the refusal decision should be withdrawn because the Examiner in the examination stage judged that the applied-for-trademark is similar to the cited trademarks based on that the applied-for-trademark stands for the English letter string “CREST” in sound and meaning.

The Examiner indicated that the stylized portion between the English letters “R” and “S” should be considered a stylized English letter “E” based on the shape, the size, and the balance of the adjacent letters in the refusal decision. The applicant argued that it is impossible to recognize a stylized English letter “E” because the device lacks a vertical line connecting the left ends of the three horizontal lines composing the English letter “E” against the Examiner’s indication.