Published Sunday, 14 August 2011
A judgment from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ruled in favour of the management consultancy practice, Next Level Impact.
Business owner, Martin Rice, applied to trademark the company's name as a management consultancy in March 2009.
But after the application appeared in the Trade Marks Journal, Next Retail Limited filed an objection to the company's use of the word Next in its name and logo.
Next Level Impact countered, claiming that while Next is a large and well-known retailer of clothes and home furnishings, the company does not have any reputation in the field of management consultancy, with very little likelihood of confusion being caused between the respective marks.
At a hearing in London in May this year, the IPO found "significant visual aural and conceptual differences in the respective marks which, particularly in view of the careful nature of the purchasing process and the average consumer far outweigh any similarities and lead me to conclude without hesitation that there is no likelihood of either direct or indirect confusion between the respective marks even where identical services are involved".
Speaking after the proceedings, Martin Rice, Managing Director of Next Level Impact, spoke of his delight and relief that the dispute had finally been resolved to the company's satisfaction. He said:
"Fundamentally, trademarks are acceptable if they can be recognised as signs that differentiate your goods or services as different from someone else's and the Hearing Officer clearly thought that ours did.
"We are glad that the issue has been resolved to our satisfaction and we now intend to refocus our efforts and concentrate our minds on growing our business now that we have the protection that the Trade Mark affords."