SINGAPORE – Native tech agency V V Expertise has been stopped from utilizing a chook brand as its trademark, following a dispute with American social media big Twitter over the trademark’s registration.
The beginning-up had meant to show the emblem in a cellular utility that it has been growing since December 2018.
The app is aimed to be a platform internet hosting a spread of services and products catering to a person’s private way of life wants, akin to on-line buying and meals supply. It has but to be launched.
In its web site, V V Expertise mentioned it employs the most recent know-how, akin to synthetic intelligence and blockchain, to “reinvent the office” and is dedicated to making a “sensible, complete enterprise and work administration suite”.
An internet examine by The Straits Instances reveals that the agency labored with college students from the Singapore Administration College on tasks involving on-line enterprise options in 2019.
It additionally obtained a journey agent licence from the Singapore Tourism Board in 2020, which is able to enable it to offer travel-related services and products.
V V Expertise utilized to register a brand of a chook in flight as a trademark on Sept 10, 2018. Twitter opposed the registration, arguing that the emblem was much like its mark of a chook, which had been earlier registered as a trademark, amongst different issues.
The social media big finally gained the case, with the principal assistant registrar of Commerce Marks, Mr Mark Lim, ruling in its favour.
In his grounds of choice dated March 11 this yr, Mr Lim discovered that the 2 marks are visually comparable, though solely to a low extent.
Amongst different issues, each depict a chook in facet profile and don’t present options akin to eyes.
He additionally dominated that the marks are conceptually equivalent, as they each convey the notion of a “chook in flight”.
In assessing whether or not shoppers could be confused by the 2 logos, Mr Lim famous that the repute of Twitter’s brand would scale back the chance of confusion.
However he discovered that buyers should still be confused as they might understand an financial hyperlink between each marks – both that V V Expertise’s mark is a brand new model of Twitter’s icon, or that it’s a modified mark that Twitter is utilizing for brand new digital providers associated to its present enterprise.
He disagreed with V V Expertise’s argument that members of the general public who use cellular purposes are “digital natives”.
The agency had claimed that cellular app customers listed here are unlikely to be simply deceived or hoodwinked, and due to this fact much less prone to be confused by the 2 marks.
