L V Bespoke -vs- Louis Vuitton Trademark Objection.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. These are the famous words written by William Shakespeare in the play Romeo & Juliet.

When it comes to trademarks everything is in a name, brand reputation, brand recognition, Intellectual property rights etc.

A garden accessories business going by the name L V Bespoke, named after its owners Lawrence and Victoria Osborne ( L V) applied for the registration of a trademark in the UK. The Osborne’s tried to register L V Bespoke as a trademark, for goods such as metal plant cages and plants.

This led to the international fashion house Louis Vuitton filing an objection, claiming the name L V Bespoke would cause “consumer confusion” with the Louis Vuitton brand name.

The fashion brand that was founded in France in 1854, claimed that there was a “likelihood of consumer confusion” and that L V Bespoke would “take unfair advantage of, or would be detrimental to their earlier trademarks, according to papers following a UK Intellectual Property Office hearing.

The Osborne’s decided to fight the objection to their trademark application rather than change the name of their business.

The IPO Tribunal Judge Matthew Williams in reaching his decision, stated in particular:-

1. That the marks were not similar and the there was nothing to suggest fraudulent intent.
2. He did not find any similarity between the two marks.
3. The geometric device, for the L V Bespoke logo with its coppery or rose gold metallic complexion, on a soft black background was found not to be particularly reminiscent of the Opponent’s pattern.
4. that “almost all” of L V Bespoke’s goods, such as metal plant cages and garden stakes, were “self-evidently dissimilar” to Louis Vuitton’s “metal components for leatherware”.
5. that the “average consumer… would not mistake the marks for one another; there will be no direct confusion”.
6. “The only point of commonality is the presence of the same two single letters “L” and “V”.

The IPO Tribunal Judge found in favour of the Osbourne’s deciding that Louis Vuitton’s opposition had failed on all grounds, and further ordered the luxury brand to pay £4,000 to the Osbourne’s.