Distinctive Portion of a Mark Taken by Court to Judge Similarity


May 18, 2006

A ruling issued by the Administrative High Court on April 6, 2006 suggests that a mark may be comprised of a distinctive as well as a less distinctive part, and as long as the distinctive part of the mark is distinguishable from a prior registered mark (which has the same less distinctive part as the mark in question), the new mark may be registrable. In this particular case, the court considers that "Cha Tai Lang" and "Mi Tai Lang" are distinguishable because "Tai Lang" in Chinese means the eldest son and is a common phrase in Taiwan and secondly, it is an element of several prior registered marks and "Cha" meaning tea and "Mi" meaning rice are two elements that an ordinary consumer may use to sufficiently distinguish the two marks. Therefore, no confusion will be caused in the consumers.