![]() ![]() It rejected Skype’s argument that since the marks at issue were relatively short marks, the visual and phonetic differences between them should carry a greater weight. The only phonetic difference between the marks was the ‘p’ sound at the end of the Skype mark. However, the General Court emphasised that the Sky mark appeared in full in the beginning of the Skype marks and was likely to be readily picked out by the average consumer as the term ‘sky’ is a part of the basic vocabulary of the English language. Skype had argued that the term ‘skype’ should be considered as a unitary word and not "artificially split" into ‘sky’ and ‘pe’. ![]() The General Court compared the Sky and Skype marks from a visual, phonetic and conceptual perspective and determined that, given the identical goods and services applied for, the marks were confusingly similar. The General Court rejected Skype’s arguments on all three grounds. The Sky and Skype marks had been coexisting on the market without confusion for many years.The Skype marks had acquired a secondary meaning for the telecommunications services provided by the company through extensive use, which served to counteract any similarity with the Sky mark and.The Sky and Skype marks were not similar.Skype challenged the OHIM decision arguing that: ![]() OHIM, and subsequently the OHIM Board of Appeal, upheld the opposition and refused to register the marks. Sky opposed the applications, pleading a likelihood of confusion with the earlier Sky mark, filed in 2003 for identical goods and services. In 20, Skype applied to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) ( OHIM) for registration of the Skype marks in relation to a range of telecommunications and computer-related goods and services. The General Court’s decision is based upon a likelihood of confusion with Sky’s earlier word CTM SKY (the Sky mark). The EU General Court has refused to register the ‘Skype’ word and logo marks (the Skype marks) as Community Trade Marks ( CTMs) in relation to a range of telecommunications and computer-related goods and services. ![]()
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