Nikon Trademark Registration in Class 7 Denied

Nikon Corporation recently brought Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court against TRAB's denial on registration of No. 3565606 trademark "尼康"(translation of Nikon in Chinese) in Class 7. Nikon the famous camera manufacturer has obtained trademark registrations in several classes, however was denied in class 7.


Nikon asserted that the No. 3565606 trademark of "尼康" is only the word mark and the No. 1096000 trademark of "康尼及图" is constituted with word "康尼" the word and the figure, there's obvious distinctiveness between two trademarks. As the translation of Nikon in Chinese, "尼康" is widely used in Nikon's affiliated companies names and in Nikon products commercial activities in China. Although these two marks "尼康" and "康尼" are constituted with the same Chinese characters,  the sequence is different and it would not cause confusion among consumers.


We will follow the development of the case.

(China IP News)

2013-07-17