doTERRA Holdings LLC

This matter concerned an application by doTERRA Holdings LLC for registration of a trade mark, which had been rejected by the Registrar under section 44 of the *Trade Marks Act 1995* (Cth). The applicant sought a hearing to argue against this rejection.

The central legal issue before the Hearing Officer was whether the trade mark applied for was substantially identical or deceptively similar to an existing trade mark, referred to as the "Yuko Mark," such that it would be likely to deceive or cause confusion among a substantial number of persons. This determination was required to assess the validity of the rejection ground under section 44.

The Hearing Officer considered the visual and aural similarities between the trade mark and the Yuko Mark. Applying the principles of imperfect recollection, the Hearing Officer concluded that the distinctions between the marks were sufficient to render it unlikely that the use of the applicant's trade mark would deceive or cause confusion. Consequently, the ground for rejection under section 44 was not established.

As the Hearing Officer was not satisfied that there were grounds for rejection under section 44, the application for registration of the trade mark was accepted.