Trade mark decision

BL Number

O/054/00

Decision date

17 February 2000

Hearing Officer

Mr A James

Mark

PZD

Classes

06, 07, 08, 09

Applicants

European Industrial Services Limited

Opponents

Black & Decker

Opposition

Sections 3(1)(a), 3(1)(b) & 3(1)(d)

Result

Section 3(1)(a) - Opposition failed.

Section 3(1)(b) - Opposition partially successful.

Section 3(1)(d) - Opposition failed.

Points Of Interest

• 1. "The sign PZD has at least as much capricious alteration from the sign PZ as the word WELDMESH has from the generic words ‘welded mesh’."

Summary

The opposition was founded in the fact that the letters PZ were commonly used by manufacturers and merchants on screwdrivers and screwdriver bits to indicate that they were suitable for use in connection with a particular type of screw head: (POZIDRIVE). The Hearing Officer found that the mark PZD was not barred from registration by Sections 3(1)(a); it having sufficient ‘capricious variation’ from PZ. Neither was it barred by Section 3(1)(d), since the addition of the letter D resulted in a mark which did not consist exclusively of "signs or indications etc." Under Section 3(1)(b) however the Hearing Officer found that at the time of application the public would see PZD as merely a variant of PZ, when used on screwdrivers or screwdriver bits. For these goods, therefore, the mark was not distinctive. Application was permitted to proceed for a specification which excluded those items.

Full decision O/054/00 27Kb