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Private dental practice wins a trademark battle over Lacoste |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
 A dental practice in the suburbs of Cheltenham have won a trademark battle against French clothing giant
Lacoste over their trademark crocodile sign.
According to the Guardian Unlimited, Lacoste had argued that the brand, even on a dental surgery, could be mistaken
for its own crocodile emblem, causing confusion among shoppers and people who
need a tooth filling.
The battle began in September 2004, when Tim Rumney and Simon Moore, the two
principal practitioners at the surgery, tried to register their logo. Dr Moore told The Times yesterday,
A lot of practices had quite modest logos – often just a sketch of their
building. We liked the crocodile design because of the natural association with teeth. At the Intellectual Property Office in Newport in May, the dentists represented
themselves, arguing that shoppers would be unlikely to confuse a small clinic
offering root canal surgery with a fashion boutique selling distinctive tennis
shirts. 
It was wonderfully argued considering that they're representing themselves. Although I'd have to assume that they're pretty smart to be able to be dentists and I guess they have done their research on trademarks.
Also if you look at the two logos (Lacoste above, Dentist on the right) it could be confusingly similar if it was in the same category of goods or services.
Ann Corbett, an adjudicator for the IPO, agreed, ruling that the two crocodiles
were different enough to avoid confusion. She goes on to say,
Dental services are so different to clothing that ... the average consumer of
the goods and services in question, who is reasonably well informed and
reasonably observant and circumspect, would not make that mistake. Lacoste appealed Ann's decision and the case was put before the UK Intellectual Property in
London. However, the judge, Professor Ruth Annand, has rejected the appeal.
It seems as though people have the impression that big companies abuse intellectual property to crush small businesses. However, it is usually not the case as can be seen by here and these stories have to be told.
Stand up for yourselves and don't be intimated by large corporations. Educate yourself in these matters and you will be won't be intimidated.
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