Japanese trademark law provides that if a mark is identical/similar to another person’s registered trademark that has been filed prior to the filing date of an application for registration of the mark, and if the designated goods/services of the registered trademark are identical/similar to the designated goods/services of the mark, the mark shall not be registered.

The appeal examiners considered that the mark  is unlikely to have any particular sounds and concepts.

On the other hand, the cited trademark  consists of two semi circular arches and the letters of “Delco” under the devices.  It is reasonable to say that the device portions do not have any particular sounds and concepts.  The letters “Delco” would likely be regarded as a coined word because the word is not listed in dictionaries.  Thus, the cited trademark has the sound “Delco” and has no concepts.  In view of the above, the devices and the letters have distinctiveness in each portion.

As for the device portions, though both the mark  and the cited trademark  have semi circular arches, their open points are not identical.  Thus, their appearances are significantly different.

Under the circumstances, the appeal examiners concluded that the mark  and the cited trademark   are dissimilar.