Energy Beverages LLC v Charlie Coglitore

This decision concerned a trade mark opposition brought by Energy Beverages LLC against trade marks sought by Charlie Coglitore. The dispute centred on whether the proposed marks were deceptively similar to Energy Beverages LLC's existing registered trade marks. The matter was heard by a delegate.

The delegate was required to determine whether the trade marks sought by the applicant were deceptively similar to the opponent's registered trade marks, considering the opponent's asserted "family of trade marks" strategy. This involved assessing whether the proposed marks, when viewed in the context of the marketplace and the opponent's existing registrations, would lead consumers to believe they originated from the same trader.

The delegate's reasoning, drawing from a previous decision in *McDonald's v Macri Fruit*, emphasised that deceptive similarity arises not merely from a common element in trade marks, but from the contextual use of that element. In the *McDonald's* case, the delegate found deceptive similarity based on the prefix "Mc-" being conjoined with words describing goods or services that formed a normal part of the opponent's fast-food business. However, in the present matter, the delegate found that the existence of the opponent's "family of trade marks" did not lend significant weight to a finding of deceptive similarity, implying that the specific marks in question did not create the same contextual impression of origin as in the *McDonald's* example.