Trade mark decision

BL Number: O/392/03
Decision date: 15 December 2003
Hearing Officer: Mr M Reynolds
Mark: NELLIE THE ELEPHANT
Classes: 41
Registered Proprietor: Animated Music Ltd
Applicants for revocation: Dash Music Co Limited
Application for revocation: Section 46(1)(b)

Result

Application for revocation, Section 46(1)(b) - Successful.

Points Of Interest

1. Trade mark use; name of cartoon character; indication of subject matter not trade origin.

Summary

This was one of two related actions involving the same mark and the same parties, the other being an applicaton for invalidation heard on the same day (see BL O/391/03). In this action the applicants alleged that the mark had not been used for a continuous period of five years.

Having examined the evidence of use the Hearing Officer concluded that the mark had been used not as a trade mark but as an indication of the subject matter of the films on which it had appeared. It was not an indicator of trade origin. The application for revocation succeeded accordingly.

Full decision O/392/03 33Kb