SKYPE cannot be registered as a Community trademark for the risk of confusion with SKY

The EU court: SKYPE cannot be registered as a Community trademark for the risk of confusion with SKY The European Court has confirmed the OHIM refusal of “Skype” community trademark application. The judges in Luxemburg had based their decision on the argumentation that exists a likelihood of confusion between the two signs. More precisely they have highlighted “the visual, aural and conceptual similarity” between them. According to the Court «the pronunciation of the vowel "y" is no shorter in the word "skype" than it is in the word "sky". In addition, the word "sky", part of the basic vocabulary of the English language, remains clearly identifiable in the word "skype. Also, the element "sky" in the word "skype" can perfectly well be identified by the relevant public, even if the remaining element "pe" has no specific meaning. This is just another step of a dispute began in 2004. Now Skype last lifeline is appealing to the EU's highest arbiter but only on points of law and within the next 2 months.


05/12/2015 | Trade Mark