Re: Registered Trademarks "case-sensitive"?

Stefan Kramer <skramer[_at_]cac.washington.edu> wrote:
>
> Is trademark registration "case-sensitive"? In other words, if "Foo" is
> a registered trademark, does that also extend to "FOO" and "foo" etc.?

The short answer is no, trademark registration is not case sensitive, therefore registration of "Foo" extends to all forms of such word as well as similar marks for use on the same, related or competative goods (BTW, unless a particular stylization is claimed as part of the mark, the mark is registered in block letters and fully captialized, therefore, the mark in question would be "FOO"). Change of case does not alter the sound of the mark and arguably would not alter the connotation or commercial impression of a mark. Therefore, the mere change of case should not be enough to differentiate two otherwise identical marks. The only situation that I can think of where it might even be an issue is where the senior mark is registered with a particular stylization where unique capitalization may be an element of the mark. Therefore changing the capitalization could arguably create a distinction. However, this seems simply to be too far of a stretch.

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Douglas M. Lipstone, Esq.
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